The Arendelle War
by Quest Hazel
Summary: Anna must lead the Army of Arendelle when enemy forces invade the Kingdom. In a time when the new technologies make war more dangerous than ever, Elsa and Anna face the greatest challenge that they have ever known...
1. A beautiful Day

**The Arendelle War**

1- A beautiful Day

The Summer wind was blowing gently from the Arendelle mountains, the sky was blue and clear and Princess Anna, beaming with excitement, sighed as she admired the beauty of the green landscape that extended very far before her eyes.

"I just love Summer" Anna said, her long hair rippling in the wind- "Come, I will race you to the palace!"

"Anna, wait! Sven wants another carrot!"

Sven devoured the last carrot, Kristoff hurried to mount and they did their best to win the race down the hills, but Anna and her white horse were too fast for them. The air was full of the splendid aroma of the forest in Summer, and many people cheered for them as they entered the town.

Queen Elsa was waiting for them at the entrance to the palace, wearing a blue and silvery dress that made a sharp contrast with Anna's traditional violet cloak. She smiled as they dismounted, and the sisters hugged while Kristoff patted Sven.

"Good morning, Elsa!" Anna said happily, holding her hands- "You must come to camp with us one of these days, it was great!"

"I missed you, Anna" Elsa replied- "Come, I have been waiting to have breakfast together…"

"I'll see you later, Kristoff." Anna said, and they smiled at each other as Kristoff and Sven departed together on their way to the little house where they lived.

"Where is Olaf?"

"This Summer was getting too hot for our friend, so I decided to send him to the mountains for some time" Elsa replied- "We received new merchants yesterday, they have brought oranges and strawberries!"

"What? I cannot wait for breakfast now!"

Anna and Elsa were followed by their servants as they entered the Palace of Arendelle, and the guards closed the gates after them. It was a beautiful day, and they did not know anything yet about a terrible threat that was advancing towards them…


	2. Terrible News

**2- Terrible News**

Anna really loved to have orange juice and strawberry pie for breakfast, but she would enjoy both of them at once only sometimes since they were a rarity in the Northern Kingdom of Arendelle.

The pie was the best that she had tried in months, and then Anna realized that her orange juice had become a little bit warmer than she liked it...

"Elsa, would you please…?" the Princess asked, raising her glass with a smile and looking at her sister.

The Queen beamed at Anna, she casted a stream of her Magic and an instant later three ice cubes had been formed inside the orange juice.

"Thanks!"

Elsa and Anna were having breakfast at one of their favorite halls of the Palace, which featured a long wooden table and huge paintings of landscapes decorating the walls. Elsa had transformed the wooden floor into permanent ice, and the warm sunlight of Summer came in through the wide open windows.

"We need to get strawberries more often" Elsa said- "This pie is excellent!"

They laughed together, and a moment later a voice came from somewhere in the hallways of the Palace:

"Where is Queen Elsa?!" a man screamed, his voice shaking with fear- "Where is the Queen?"

"Guards, open the door!" Elsa ordered, standing up immediately.

The two guards hurried to follow the Queen's command, the huge doors were opened very quickly and then the mysterious man came into the hall. He was young and handsome, and Anna recognized him immediately as a soldier because of the green and purple uniform that he was wearing.

"What happened?!" Anna asked, alarmed at the bloody bandages wrapped around the soldier's head and arms…

"Your Majesty" the soldier gasped, trying to catch some air after his long race through the many hallways of the Palace- "I have terrible news! Enemy forces have crossed our Southern border, and the villages of Tannya have been captured already…"

Elsa and Anna were shocked and they did not know what to say, and then they heard many screams coming from outside of the Palace.

The guards attended the injured soldier, and then the Queen and the Princess abandoned the hall and hurried to discover what was happening outside…


	3. The Letter

**3- The Letter**

"Captain!" Elsa cried out, calling for the leader of her Guards- "We need all the medical attention available, right now!"

"Immediately, your Majesty!"

The Fountain Square was full of injured soldiers, displaced families and volunteers helping everywhere, the scene looked like the aftermath of a battle and the Queen understood that a fight was precisely what had happened.

These were the Arendelle soldiers that had tried to defend the Southern border from the mysterious invaders, and from the looks of it the battle had been a total disaster… Anna and Kristoff were busy applying medicine and bandages to a soldier nearby, and the summery air was suddenly full of the smell of disinfectants and blood.

"Captain Matthew!" Elsa said, happy to recognize the leader of the Southern Division- "What happened? Who did this to my soldiers?!"

The military commander limped slowly towards Elsa, moaning in pain from the shrapnel injuries that were covered by bandages. Matthew was an aging man in his sixties, and he looked ashamed of the disaster that had taken place under his command.

"Your Majesty" Matthew gasped, avoiding the Queen's eyes- "They attacked by surprise, with heavy artillery in the middle of the night… We tried to resist, but their cavalry overwhelmed us and we barely escaped with our lives."

"Who did this to Arendelle?!" Elsa repeated.

"I was captured, along with many others" Matthew continued- "But they released me, so I could come here and give you this letter…"

Matthew handed over to the Queen a folded piece of common paper, she opened it immediately and read the words written with blood:

_My dear Freak of the Snow, you should have destroyed me when you had the chance._

_You see, it was not too hard to convince my brothers that I had learned my lesson, and eventually they took me out of prison. I accepted a servant job in our Palace to prove that I had changed, and they thought that everything was perfect._

_My eldest brother decided to throw a party one night, and they were foolish enough to let me work in the kitchens… I have always loved to use my favorite poisons, and yeah, my twelve brothers are dead._

_I am the King of the Southern Isles now!_

_You and your sister are going to pay for what you did to me three years ago… my forces vastly exceed your defenses! Just try and stop me._

_Hans_


	4. The War Council

**4- The War Council**

It was the saddest night that Arendelle had suffered in a very long time.

The bells kept ringing for hours to honor the hundreds of soldiers that had fallen fighting for Arendelle, many families that lived nearby the palace volunteered to work all day attending the injured and nobody could believe what had just happened.

Very soon the rumors had spread, and now everyone knew that the armies of the Southern Isles had invaded the country and started a war…

War!

The people did not want to accept the truth, but there was no other word to describe it… and meanwhile, the Palace remained on High Alert and the Queen was trying to take some of the hardest decisions of her life.

"How many forces have we lost?" Elsa asked, looking down at a map of Arendelle which was spread on a wooden table.

The Queen found herself leading the first War Council since the times of her father, she was surrounded by her Generals and she was facing the act of taking decisions that would result in life or death for thousands of people.

Just how on Earth could she do this?

Anna was there standing beside her, but at those moments all that Elsa wished was to see her father and ask him what to do...

"All of the Tannya lands have been occupied" Captain Matthew explained, pointing at the Southern region of Arendelle on the map- "Three villages, your Majesty: We are talking about three hundred men dead, five hundred injured and a thousand captured by the enemy and retained at our own castle."

The War Council was taking place at one of the highest and most protected parts of the Palace, a rather secret, small and circular room that featured only two windows, old suits of armor standing here and there and a little table in the middle of everything.

There was a huge portrait of Elsa and Anna's father hanging from the wall, and the War Council was illuminated only by the light of a few candles in the room…

"We have to attack with twelve divisions, from the forests of the East and West at once" Elsa continued- "After all, they do not know about our artillery positions hidden in the hills around Tannya… and after that, our forces must retreat to the Sammel river, _right over here."_

Elsa's finger pointed at a long river that ran down from the mountains and through the South of Arendelle, a famous place that, according to her father, had been a traditional defensive line that had protected their country through many wars...

"We shall build a complex of trenches to defend the Sammel line" Elsa explained- "After all, we have the Crackers that they know nothing about- I expect Hans will be furious after our first offensive, and after that… let them attack us!"

"What are the Crackers?" Anna asked, having a bad feeling about it.

"These are dangerous times, my sister" Elsa replied, evading the question and looking right into her eyes- "There are new technologies in our world, and even though we don't know what weapons they could have, they know nothing of ours…"

Anna, Matthew and the other Generals remained in silence for a long time, since they were waiting for Queen Elsa to give the decisive order at last. The words that would start everything, the point when there would be no turning back.

Elsa looked up at the huge portrait of her father, she missed him more than ever, her heart was breaking and she recalled the times when she was just a little girl that hoped to be a great Queen someday…

The years had passed so fast, and now she had to raise to the expectations and lead Arendelle to a dangerous war.

"Anna, prepare Arendelle's army… _for battle!"_


	5. The Ice Mirror

**5- The Ice Mirror**

The entire military forces of Arendelle were summoned by Princess Anna the following day, the war effort started everywhere with great speed and very soon all of the sabers, muskets, ammunition, artillery and gunpowder had been extracted from all of the armories.

Anna commanded the Generals to organize the supplies and the divisions while the families said farewell to fathers, sons, brothers and also many daughters and sisters that volunteered to fight, for everyone knew that the battles were going to be hard…

Thousands of horses were brought as needed from every farm, village and town nearby the Palace, and even though many sabers were old and needed to be sharpened, the Cavalry units announced their numbers, flags and names several hours before Queen Elsa had expected.

It was late at night when the first divisions started their journey to the Front under the mysterious light of the Midnight Sun, and it was time for the Queen and the Princess to say good bye…

"This is not good" Elsa said, looking into Anna's blue eyes- "I am the eldest sister, and I have Magic! I should lead our forces, Anna…"

Elsa and Anna stood alone in a forest clearing, a lovely, peaceful place not far from the palace where they used to camp sometimes, take their telescopes and look at the stars together in the long Winter nights. The clearing looked surreal and intriguing under the light of the Midnight Sun, and Anna's white horse was standing beside her waiting to depart…

"I know that you are powerful" Anna replied, her hands resting on the shoulders of the Queen- "But you are our Queen, Elsa… Arendelle needs you to remain as safe as possible! One of us must command the troops in battle, it's very dangerous and I am much less important than you are."

The sisters remained in silence for some time after that, and then Elsa could not contain her tears anymore. She cried and hugged Anna as strongly as she could, for she knew that her little sister would find herself in real danger at the Front…

Anna looked sinister wearing her purple uniform, the military boots and the green cloak that marked her as a General of Arendelle. A cavalry saber was hanging from her waist, and Elsa, looking at her from head to feet, had trouble to believe that this woman really was her little sister Anna.

"Anna, please be careful" Elsa cried, looking into her eyes once again- "I wanted to give you something special, so we can talk to each other whenever that we want…"

"Magic?"

Elsa casted two streams of magic from her hands, Anna felt a wave of sudden cold and a beautiful mirror was created before her eyes in a few seconds. It was about the size of a large book, and even though it looked not too different to an ordinary mirror, Anna discovered that it was actually made of a very special kind of ice.

"Take it, Anna" Elsa said, and Anna accepted the mirror with both hands- "I have another mirror in the palace, and they will allow us to see and talk to each other even from the distance…"

"Thanks" Anna replied, turning around to depart- "Elsa, I love you!"

"Farewell, Anna!"

Elsa did her best to regain control of her emotions as Anna mounted her white horse, looked down at her for a last time and then began her journey riding through the forest… the Queen turned around and returned to the palace, for now there was nothing else that she could do except to wait for the first news of battle.

The wind was strong as Anna rode her horse faster and faster, for a few seconds she could hardly believe that this was real, part of her was excited while the other part was terrified and very soon, looking at both sides, she realized that many other riders were escorting her already.

"All follow me!" Anna cried out, raising her saber high above her head- "Long live Queen Elsa! _Long live Queen Elsa!"_

Anna's cavalry forces were joined by another unit, then yet another showed up and very soon the ground was shaking as hundreds of horses and riders stormed the forest on their long travel to the South…

_"Long live Queen Elsa!"_

The purple and green flags were rippling in the wind as far as Anna could see, and meanwhile at Tannya, Hans and his armies had no idea that the full Army of Arendelle was advancing to attack.


	6. White Castle

**6- White Castle**

Anna and the Arendelle Cavalry arrived at the Southern lands a few days after departing from the Palace, discovering a rugged territory full of rocks, forest and soft hills where the rest of the Army had already prepared a variety of campsites.

The hills and forests surrounded Tannya in every direction except for the Southwest, forming a lonely and beautiful valley beside the sea. The few villages that existed there were inhabited by fishermen, merchants and woodcutters, all of them known for producing and shipping many of Arendelle's exports.

The famous White Castle stood in the middle of the lands beside a lake, a beloved treasure of the Arendellian architecture that now served as a prison for a thousand of the captured troops…

"At least, now we know why they have not advanced yet" Anna said, looking at the coast through a military telescope- "Wait! It's difficult to tell from this distance, but I would say that the man of the red coat is Hans."

Anna and her Generals could see the entire valley from a secret position near the summit of a great hill, a perfect place where the trees all around them concealed the impressive pieces of artillery that now pointed at the enemy forces down there.

The three guns were the largest that Anna had ever seen, and even though they were old they still looked rather eerie and alarming…

"Let's see…" Captain Matthew said, and after taking a look with his own telescope he understood what Princess Anna had said:

The Tannya coast was full of troops, horses and cannons brought by the enemy fleet all the way from the Southern Isles, three more ships could be seen very far as they approached to land and there was a man that bossed everyone around wearing an impressive golden crown.

"That's him indeed, your Highness" Matthew confirmed- "I would say that their plan is to build up enough forces before advancing to the North…"

"Can we hit them from here?"

"Your Highness, I am sorry to inform you that the coast is beyond the reach of these guns."

The man that had spoken those words was tall, muscular and young, he featured green eyes and fiery red hair, there was something eerie about him and his green cloak rippled in the wind as he lowered his telescope to look at the Princess.

"Thank you, General Alistair" Anna said- "Tell me, is everything ready?"

"Indeed" Alistair replied- "We shall be the first to open fire, aiming at the campsites around the White Castle. The East Hill artillery shall follow us, and after that the Seventh Cavalry division will charge down right at them!"

Anna tried not to think about what she was doing, for she knew that her orders that day would result in the first Arendelle offensive of the war and the deaths of an unknown number of troops from both sides…

She thought that all of this was to defend Arendelle, and so she closed her fists hard and gave the order at last:

"This is for Arendelle! We shall defend our homeland, no matter the cost… Now, bring the shells and load!"

It took the strength of six men to lift the first shell by means of pincers, other teams lifted two more of those terrible projectiles and Anna's heart began to pound like a hammer as she retreated to a safer position beside her two Generals, terrified of the moment when the monstrous cannons would attack.

The first gun was carefully aimed at the main campsite, everything was ready and the enemy forces in the valley had no idea what was just about to happen to them.

_"Fire!"_ Anna screamed, and she covered her ears with both hands...


	7. The Battle of Tannya

**7- The Battle of Tannya**

The campsites around the White Castle were composed by hundreds of white military tents, campfires here and there, horses transporting ammunitions and supplies and soldiers of the Southern Isles everywhere.

All of them were wearing their red uniforms, and they talked to each other to clear their minds and discuss the future of their invasion.

Most of them were very confident that their victory would be fast and easy, that Queen Elsa would do nothing and Arendelle would not offer great resistance after all…

Hans had promised them all riches and glory, the morale was very high and that cold and windy morning of July a group of twenty soldiers, all of them friends, were grouped together around a campfire.

"King Hans says that the war is already won" a young man said, drinking hot tea from a metallic mug- "What do you think?"

"Yeah, Arendellians are cowards!" an older soldier replied beside him, and all of his friends laughed as they prepared a simple breakfast by means of the campfire.

Everything was peaceful, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary that day...

"I wonder why they have not showed up here yet…" the young one said, and at that moment he turned his head and looked at the distant hills around the valley- "Hey, everyone… _What is that?"_

The group stood up in a hurry, alarmed at those searing and powerful flashes of white light coming from the forest and the hills… They could not hear anything because the shells traveled faster than sound, and when they realized what was happening it was already too late:

_"Watch out!"_

The first shell came like a demon of death, it scored a direct hit and the explosion shook the ground like a powerful earthquake. There was a great ball of fire and sparks, and the horses ran away in madness between the cries and screams of terrified men…

Seventy soldiers had been virtually vaporized by the very first hit, twice as many others had fallen in agony with arms and legs missing and then two more shells came from the Arendelle positions and caused even more devastation everywhere.

"Get out of here!" a General cried out in the middle of the fires, his voice drowned by the thunderous artillery blasts- "Go back to the coast! Go back! _Go back!"_

Then a piece of shrapnel came and blew his head up like a pumpkin, blood and body parts flying everywhere as far as you could see...

The burning men and mauled horses were trying to escape from the main campsite as fast as possible, and meanwhile at the forest, their comrades suddenly found themselves under a nightmare of artillery fire as well:

Explosions so hard that hundreds of soldiers were deafened instantly, trees blown apart like they were toothpicks, people torn to shreds by a storm of shrapnel, violent fires out of control and entire divisions running around in panic as they tried to escape…

The Arendelle guns stopped firing a few minutes after the first shell had hit the campsite, there were a few moments of precious calm and then the hills began to shake once again as the Cavalry divisions charged to attack.


	8. Arendelle Attacks

**8- Arendelle Attacks**

Anna charged riding her white horse between the burning trees, her green cloak rippled behind her in the wind, Matthew and Alistair rode with great pride at each side of the Princess and she lead the Arendelle Cavalry with the saber ready in her hand.

"Long live Queen Elsa!" Anna cried out as they reached the enemy lines, delivering a saber slash against the first soldier that she encountered- _"For Arendelle!"_

The hundreds of horses, sabers and Arendelle flags coming downhill through the forest simply overwhelmed the forces of the enemy, and even though many of them tried to resist they were no match for the sheer weight and power of the cavalry.

At least one thousand of Southern Isles soldiers were either slashed by sabers or slammed and ran over by the horses, since nothing but a complete disaster could happen to them after the devastating artillery attack.

The screams and cries of battle could be heard even above the charging horses, for this was finally the moment to claim vengeance...

"To the White Castle!" Anna ordered to her Generals.

Alistair and Matthew opened fire with their muskets against the few surviving soldiers that they found, and finally the forces of Arendelle abandoned the forest and reached the lands of the ravaged Tannya…

It was a terrible view:

Anna discovered the enemy campsites still burning in the distance, the air was tainted by smoke, the smell of high explosives was everywhere and hundreds of soldiers remained ablaze in the fields, rolling on the ground in a vain attempt to save their lives…

"Elsa, if you could just see this…"

War was not like the romantic tales that Anna had read in her old books, but despite the initial shock and the fact that her heart had skipped a few beats, the Princess was the first to ride as fast as possible on their way to the White Castle.

Three more cavalry divisions emerged from the forest coming from the West and East of the valley just like Elsa had planned, but even though the castle was visible between the black smoke not far, the forces of Arendelle discovered that the journey to get there was not going to be easy after all:

The enemy forces stationed at the coast had not been affected by the artillery storm, they had hurried to help their comrades and now what looked like hundreds of riders were charging across the fields to take on the Arendellians.

The Arendelle armies continued to ride as fast as they could, getting ready for the inevitable clash and the savage battle that would follow...

"Muskets ready!" Anna screamed, pointing her saber at the red-cloaked riders- _"Fire!"_

The first wave of gunfire brought down dozens of Southern Isles riders, but then they raised and fired their own muskets…

Anna shook in angst and fear as she witnessed many of Arendelle's horses collapsing and falling to the ground together with their riders, sure that a bullet could hit her any moment and nothing but sheer luck would save her life at this point.

"Alistair, Matthew… _Follow me!"_

The Arendelle cavalry opened fire once again, and after that the armies finally clashed in the middle of the battlefield…


	9. Into the Fires

**9- Into the Fires**

The fierce battle that followed the clash was nothing like Anna had imagined it would be, nothing romantic, no beautiful heroism at all… real fighting came and terrified her like the awful monster that it was, with the sabers rattling and men falling dead everywhere around her.

Anna managed to avoid a direct crash and crossed the enemy lines between two riders, slashing the throat of one of them as she passed. A second later she barely escaped from a blade that nearly hit her left arm, and then the Princess stabbed another rider right through the heart.

The man looked into her eyes as he died, and then he fell from the horse and crashed on the bloody ground below-

"Your Highness!" Alistair screamed not far from her, engaged in battle against two men at once- "You have to get out of here! Now, to the castle!"

The screams of men and neighs of horses drowned every other sound apart from the muskets firing, the air remained full of acrid smoke and all that Anna could see was the savage cavalry fighting all around her.

The colorful flags and bloodstained blades were everywhere, and she did not know anymore what direction would take her to the White Castle…

An enemy General was so surprised to see Anna that he became frozen on the spot, giving her just enough time to deliver a wide slash of her saber and slice his throat open from one side to the other.

The blood splattered her face and Anna could not believe what she was doing, now advancing and trying desperately to escape from the terrible fray-

The seconds felt like hours for Anna as the fighting continued, she was throwing saber slashes left and right to defend herself and then a red cloaked rider spotted the Princess and carefully raised his musket to aim at her…

_"Anna!"_

Anna turned her head at the sound of that voice, a dagger came flying out of nowhere, the sharp blade hit the man right in the throat and the musket fired anyway, but the shot aimed at Anna's heart missed and hit her right arm instead…

_"What?!"_

Kristoff came riding a brown horse out of nowhere, wielding a bloodstained saber and throwing a second dagger at an enemy Captain. Anna could not believe her eyes when she realized he was there, and incredibly she could feel no pain coming from her arm even though the bone was shattered.

"Just follow me, Anna!"

The cavalry fighting had started to disperse as the thunderous artillery returned, the distant blasts were deafening, there were great explosions in the fields and Anna realized that this time it was the enemy guns which were firing against the Arendelle forces.

Anna and Kristoff escaped from the fighting soon after that and rode together into the fires of the battlefield, the White Castle visible once again between the distant columns of black smoke…

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Anna screamed- "Kristoff, I ordered you to stay!"

"That doesn't matter now!"

The infantry forces from both sides had arrived at the valley, throwing grenades and shooting at each other from a distance… the Battle of Tannya was raging, and then the first enemy shell hit and destroyed the highest tower of the White Castle.

"They are trying to demolish the castle!" Anna cried out, shocked to think of the Arendellian troops that remained captive inside- _"We have no time!"_


	10. The Rescue

**10- The Rescue**

Anna tried her best to regain control of her emotions as they crossed the devastated campsites of the enemy, crying as she witnessed the fires out of control, the awful craters caused by the shelling and the countless soldiers and horses killed by the explosions.

The fallen soldiers had been mutilated by shrapnel in the most disturbing ways, and their severed arms, legs and even heads littered the ruins between the few mauled horses that remained trying to escape…

Why did they have to do this? Did war really need to be so terrible?

Anna wondered for a moment whether she would have given the order to fire the guns anyway if she had known what they would do, but she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and concentrated on the most important mission of the battle.

"I have the keys" Anna said, gasping as they stopped at the entrance to the castle- "They must be locked in the underground dungeons, follow me!"

Anna and Kristoff dismounted together, the wooden gates had been blown apart by the explosions and they dashed into the castle at the precise moment when two more shells hit the walls outside and shook the entire structure…

The Southern Isles artillery was doing its best to demolish the White Castle and kill all of those inside of it, and Anna, now running through a hallway beside Kristoff, knew that they had a few minutes at best to find and rescue the captured troops.

It was a very dark and cold place.

The hallway led them to a dining hall, all the windows there were broken and fragments or rock began to fall from the ceiling with every hit that the castle took. Anna looked at a map by the weak light of a window, and then she discovered a wooden door concealed behind a tapestry on a wall.

"That's it!"

Kristoff pushed Anna aside and kicked the door open, there was a staircase at the other side and they finally descended to the dungeons…

"Take this key, I have another" Anna said- "Quick, Kristoff!"

The captive soldiers were locked in huge cells at both sides of a very long corridor, the place was barely illuminated by a few torches here and there and they all were trying to break their way out, agitated and excited because of the sounds of battle coming from outside.

"It's Princess Anna!" one of them screamed to the others with great pride, unable to believe it - _"Princess Anna is here!"_

The cries of _Your Highness!_ and _I cannot believe it!_ came from everywhere while Anna and Kristoff opened a cell after another, and very soon drove after drove of Arendellian soldiers emerged from captivity and dashed their way upstairs ready to fight.

Anna and Kristoff were the last to abandon the White Castle, the artillery hits above them were deafening and they climbed on their horses, riding the hell out of there as fast as they could…

Three powerful shells came and hit the castle seconds later, and the great and legendary structure finally collapsed in a great cloud of dust.

"We did it!" Anna screamed, shaking from head to feet- "Kristoff, we have to…"

A shell came all of a sudden from the sky, it exploded some distance to their left and Anna's white horse was hit squarely by the shrapnel… All that she could hear was a strong ringing in her ears, the horse collapsed and Anna, falling to the ground, hit her head against a rock.

Everything went dark and Anna knew no more…


	11. The Queen's Lament

**11- The Queen's Lament**

The Arendelle Palace looked as peaceful as ever, there were just a few clouds in a clear blue sky and the birds were singing as the families in town began to wake up, soon preparing breakfast and emerging from their houses to take care of everyday life.

It was a rather cold and windy day, the children were playing in the streets and the Palace Guards patrolled the Town as usual... After all, the people attending the market and the Fountain Square were very far from the horrors of the Front.

Northern Arendelle had not received any news about the situation in the South, and even though everyone acted as normally as possible and tried to think positive, the angst was running wild everywhere around them...

Queen Elsa remained on her bed just staring at the ceiling, her eyes sullen after spending the whole night awake.

She had not slept at all since the day when Anna had departed for Tannya, fighting to keep a wide variety of awful thoughts out of her mind and desperate to receive the first news about the situation at the Front…

"Anna, where are you?" Elsa whispered, sitting up and holding her Ice Mirror between both hands- "My little sister, what is happening down there?"

There would come no answer through the magical ice, everything was silent, all that she could hear was the wind whispering outside and Elsa wished that she could go back in time and lead the Army herself instead of Anna.

Why did she have to send Anna to the war? Why did she have to let her little sister do this, and risk her life in battle?

Elsa could still see in her mind the image of Anna riding through the forest, a brave and inspiring noblewoman with a cavalry saber hanging from her waist and the green cloak rippling behind her in the wind.

It had been incredible to see her like that, but now Elsa was worried sick to the point that she had never felt like that in her entire life...

What had happened to Anna?

The Queen finally got out of bed, she combed her hair a little and took her favorite purple cloak out of the wardrobe…

Elsa had no way to know that the Battle of Tannya was coming to an end at those very moments, for her it was just a day like all the others and she planned to attend yet another War Council to organize the delivery of supplies to the Army.

Anna was lying unconscious on the ravaged battlefield while Elsa walked downstairs and arrived at the Fountain Square a few minutes later, her mood improving a little as she felt the sunlight on her face and the wind playing with her hair...

"Your Majesty!"

Elsa turned her head to discover that one of the Palace Guards was running towards her, the man looked excited and her heart began to beat faster when she thought that maybe they had finally received some news from Tannya.

"What is it, Captain Andrew?"

"We have received an update" Andrew explained, coming to a halt and bowing at Elsa- "The trenches are almost ready at the Sammel Line, together with the hospital… the Crackers have been taken to all necessary positions, and our third delivery of supplies made it there without trouble."

"What about Tannya? Do we know anything about the battle?"

"No, your Majesty…"

Andrew realized just how pale and sickly Queen Elsa looked, she just remained standing there in silence and the Captain departed a few seconds later. The situation was becoming unbearable for Elsa, and she began to consider the idea to just abandon the Palace and travel to the Front to find her sister.

"You were right, Hans" Elsa whispered, recalling the awful message written on that letter- "I should have destroyed you when I had the chance, and I am going to lament it for the rest of my life…"


	12. Awakening

**12- Awakening**

Anna was riding her white horse across the burning fields and smoke, the White Castle collapsed to rubble behind her, the shelling explosions continued and then she turned her head to look at Kristoff.

"We did it! Krisfoff, we have to…"

Then came the great blast, her horse collapsed, the ringing sound in her ears would not allow her to hear anything else and…

_"Kristoff!"_ Anna screamed, for real this time.

Anna abandoned her nightmare and awakened all of a sudden, finding herself lying on a bed in the middle of a small and pleasant room. A large window to her right showed her a view of a beautiful forest, and to her surprise, she was wearing a clean blue nightgown instead of her military gear.

Her hair smelled very good and her body was clean, with just a little of discomfort coming from her injured arm and the right side of her head…

"Kristoff!" Anna cried out, sitting up and looking all around her- "Where are you?"

There were a few seconds of silence, and then Anna, still very surprised, suddenly heard the steps of two people walking upstairs in a hurry. They whispered something that she could not catch, and then the wooden door was opened in a haste.

Kristoff came into the room followed by a young woman of long and fiery red hair, both of them remained wearing the military uniform of Arendelle and they looked delighted to see that Anna was finally awake...

"Anna!" Kristoff said, hugging her with great relief- "We thought that maybe that hit had really damaged something in your head… How do you feel?"

Anna looked around more carefully, and slowly she realized that this mysterious room was perhaps not really unknown after all…

There was something in the paintings, the bookcase and those purple curtains that ringed a bell in her head, Kristoff stared at her with a worried look in his face and then Anna finally recalled what place that was.

"My mother's Summer House at the Forest of Snowhall" Anna whispered- "Wait! What happened after I hit my head? _Did we win the battle after all?!"_

"You have to see the bright side, Kristoff!" the red-haired girl said, beaming at Anna- "At least she did not lose her memory or something…"

"Who are you?"

"Alice Snowflake, your Highness" the girl replied, the pride clearly visible in her startling green eyes- "General Alistair is my father!"

"Oh! Good, nice to meet you, Alice…"

Anna covered her eyes with her hands after she felt a sudden headache, and then the pain coming from her injured arm became a little stronger.

Kristoff was observing her with great attention just in case the Princess would display any unusual behavior, and Alice laughed out loud when it became clear that Anna was just fine...

"Yeah, everything has been according to Elsa's strategy so far" Kristoff explained, sitting on the bed beside Anna- "Except that you nearly got killed, I mean… We rescued thirteen hundred soldiers from the White Castle, and we have managed to inflict very serious casualties to the Southern Isles Army!"

Anna inhaled very deeply and then she sighed with a stupendous relief, letting herself fall back on the bed and looking at the ceiling. Kristoff caressed her hair with a smile, and Anna was happy to hear the wind and the birds singing outside.

"Alice, could you please find Anna's uniform and cloak?"

"Sure!" Alice replied, already on her way out of the room- "The Sammel Line is ready for battle and awaiting your command, your Highness… And you know what? We all are incredibly proud of you!"

"Kristoff, do we have food or something…?"

"What? Oh yes, you must be starving! Come, Alice has been devouring everything we brought but there might be some bread at the kitchen…"

Kristoff supported Anna as she got out of bed, and this time the Princess moaned in pain as her injured body supported her weight once again. Alice seemed to be looking for the uniform somewhere in a different room, and then the three of them began a rather slow and careful journey downstairs.

"Watch it, big dude! This is the Princess of Arendelle!"

_"I know who she is!"_

Anna was delighted to enjoy a slice of bread with cheese at the garden, and for a few precious moments, the war seemed to be a million miles away...


	13. Arendelle's Pride

**13- Arendelle's Pride**

The day was sunny and warm, there was a soft wind coming from the North, the valley looked incredibly green and three riders abandoned the Forest of Snowhall a few minutes after noon, riding downhill together on their way to the Front.

Anna advanced ahead, Kristoff and Alice were riding at each side a little behind her, they rode between small lakes and rocks and very soon they arrived at the first trenches, campsites and hospitals that the Army of Arendelle had prepared as part of the famous Sammel Line…

The Princess looked majestic wearing once again the purple uniform, her cavalry saber and her elegant green cloak, and this time she completed everything by carrying a great flag of Arendelle which was rippling above her in the wind.

"It's her Highness!" the purple-cloaked soldiers would scream to each other, emerging from their tents as Anna passed by- "She's back! Princess Anna is back!"

Kristoff and Alice looked very proud to be escorting Anna, the soldiers began to clap and cheer in happiness and very soon hundreds, and then thousands of voices came together to cry out a single word:

"Anna! Anna! Anna!" the troops exclaimed as far as Anna could see, raising their muskets, sabers and swords- _"Anna!"_

"We are proud of you, remember?" Kristoff said, raising his own saber- "Anna, you are Arendelle's Pride!"

Anna beamed and waved at her troops as they traveled between the great white tents, artillery positions and countless trenches that formed a powerful defensive line which stretched from East to West for a length of five miles…

The trenches were equipped with very strange guns that she had never seen before, the hospital tents were marked by large red crosses and the heaviest artillery had been positioned at the summit of the highest hills all along the way.

_"Anna! Anna! Anna!"_

"This is incredible!" Anna said, looking all around at the impressive defenses as they continued their journey- "How many forces do we have?!"

"Twenty thousand men and women ready to fight, your Highness!" Alice replied, her voice barely audible above the joyful screams of the troops- "These are the strongest defenses that Arendelle has ever seen!"

Anna, Kristoff and Alice soon climbed to the summit of a small hill at the center of the Sammel Line, there was a huge Arendelle flag rippling at the top and they discovered that Generals Matthew and Alistair were already there waiting for them...

"Welcome to the Sammel Line, your Highness!" Alistair said, offering his hand to Anna as she dismounted.

"Thanks!" Anna said, hugging both Generals- "This is really incredible… Tell me, do we have any news about the enemy's activities?"

"See for yourself…" Matthew said, offering his own telescope to the Princess.

Anna looked through the telescope, the Sammel river looked beautiful and shiny in the distance, she explored the Southern edge of the valley and then, not very surprised, she discovered them at last:

Countless riders, horses and soldiers with red cloaks were setting their own campsites and trenches beyond the peaceful river, they were bringing many pieces of serious artillery and even more of them kept arriving from the devastated Tannya valley that they had left behind.

Anna could see for a moment a crowned man carrying a sword in his hand, and then she sighed as she lowered the telescope and stared at the distant forces of the Southern Isles with her own eyes...

"Hans, you shall wish that you had never invaded Arendelle!"

The wind played with Anna's cloak as she looked up at the sky, Kristoff held her right hand as they stood side by side, Arendelle's Army had never been stronger and the screams of joy and pride continued for a very long time all along the Sammel Line...


	14. Call the Queen

**14- Call the Queen**

The Midnight Sun illuminated the valley with a cold and eerie light, the Northern wind had become much stronger and the Arendellian troops were in a state of alarm, with the field hospitals getting ready and entire divisions loading their weapons at every trench.

There were riders taking messages and instructions between the hundreds of trenches and artillery positions, the Captains were screaming orders everywhere and the sentinels observed every movement of the enemy forces from the summit of the hills…

"General Alistair" Anna said, lowering her telescope after observing the enemy advances from the highest part of the Sammel Line- "I would prefer to open fire right now, before they invade this side of the valley!"

"Your Highness, that would be wise but Queen Elsa designed a different strategy" Alistair replied, a cold note of cruelty clearly noticeable in his voice- "She wanted us to let them cross the river, recall that?"

Anna and Alistair analyzed together a map of the valley, the General pointing at the many parts of the river where the Southern Isles forces had started to build great wooden bridges to get across.

The General then described the most likely paths that the enemy forces would follow after crossing the river, and it seemed to Anna that a deadly strategy was forming somewhere in a dark corner of Alistair's mind…

"We have to let them advance three quarters of the way" Alistair continued- "They will be confident, and then… our Crackers open fire!"

Anna had a bad feeling about it, and judging from Alistair's voice she was sure that her General aimed to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible… Anna was inclined to destroy the bridges before they could cross, and to make things worse she did not know yet what exactly the Crackers were.

However, Anna did remember what Elsa had said at the War Council: _"I expect Hans will be furious after our first offensive, and after that… Let them attack us!"_

"What the hell are the Crackers?" Anna asked, looking straight into Alistair's eyes.

"They are one of the new technologies of war, a top secret weapon that Queen Elsa purchased for Arendelle two years ago" the General explained- "We have five hundred Crackers ready here in the Line, while two hundred more remain at the North!"

"What do they do?"

Alistair stayed in silence for awhile, Anna remained looking right into his eyes and eventually the fearsome General, displaying a mischievous smile, offered a hand to Anna and led her down the grassy hill.

"You'll see, your Highness…"

Anna looked at the Arendellian positions as they descended, and she was surprised at how fast her forces were getting ready for battle. She could see that the Artillery teams were already taking large shells from the underground bunkers, and the Cavalry units were preparing their horses just in case.

A few minutes later they reached a deep and long trench not far from the main hill, and there Kristoff and Alice hurried to greet the Princess:

"It looks like things will get interesting rather soon" Kristoff commented, looking into Anna's eyes after a hug- "Have you seen those bridges they are building?!"

"Yes…"

"Here, your Highness!" Alice said, grabbing a military backpack from the ground- "I carried this bag all the way from Snowhall Forest, just had forgotten to hand it over… I guess that it's important for you."

"What is it?"

Anna was a little surprised at first as she stared at the bag, but a few seconds later she came to remember what it was: She had used that backpack to carry some of her personal belongings all the way from the Palace, but she had not seen it since the artillery attack and the fighting at Tannya.

How could she have forgotten about it?

Anna realized that her memory was failing, but she concealed it as best as she could and, accepting the bag, she opened it immediately:

A portrait of Elsa with a cover of glass, a comb of pure silver, three oranges, a small strawberry pie, her favorite gold bracelet, a squirrel plushy toy that she had loved when she was little and a mysterious mirror all made of ice…

"I wish we could call the Queen and inform her about everything" Alistair commented, standing beside Kristoff- "The war has developed so fast!"

"Call the Queen?" Anna whispered, holding the ice mirror between both hands- "To call the Queen… Oh my stars, _how could I have forgotten about this?!"_

"What?" Kristoff asked.

"Elsa!" Anna cried out, staring at her reflection on the ice- "Elsa, can you hear me? Elsa! Come on! Elsa! _Elsa!"_

The perfect ice surface released a flash of white light, vague images started to form at the other side and then a voice came from the mirror:

_"Anna!"_


	15. A shattered Heart

**15- A shattered Heart**

Anna felt a shockwave of cold, the images soon became colorful and sharp, everyone behind her gasped in surprise and then the magical ice transformed into a perfect window that showed them a candlelit room somewhere very far from the Front.

Queen Elsa looked into Anna's eyes all the way from the Arendelle Palace, Anna looked back at her and neither of them could speak for a few seconds of happiness and incredible relief…

"Anna, I have been worried sick about you!" Elsa screamed, shaking her own mirror- "Where have you been? _What the hell happened to you?!"_

Anna realized that she had found her sister at the middle of a War Council, she could see at least three Generals standing behind Elsa and she realized just how somber and sickly the Queen looked…

There were shadows under her eyes, her face was pale and her hair looked like she had not taken a shower for many days-

"I was injured in battle" Anna replied, trying to keep herself from crying- "Elsa, I hit my head and forgot about the mirror, I am sorry! Listen to me, we do not have much time- We have caused them loads of damage at Tannya, the Southern Isles have lost at least three thousand horses and five thousand men…"

"Excellent!" Elsa said with surprise, the Generals cheering behind her- "Anna, what happened to you?"

Anna did not want to tell her sister that she had commanded a cavalry charge at the Battle of Tannya, killing several men and riding through a shelling attack to rescue the captured troops before the White Castle was destroyed...

The Princess knew that the situation was barely tolerable for Elsa already, and she feared what the Queen would do if she discovered what exactly her little sister had been doing all this time.

"A shot to my arm, hit my head against a rock, not important" Anna explained, trying to sound casual- "Elsa, we are at the Sammel Line and Hans is building up a huge amount of forces at the other side- We are outnumbered… the Crackers are ready to fire, and…"

_"Wait!"_ Elsa said, reacting so sharply that Anna was shocked- "We have been discussing this point tonight… Anna, keep the Crackers a secret for now- We have to repel their Infantry by conventional means… do not, and I repeat _do not_ use the Crackers yet!"

_"Watch out!"_ Alice screamed all of a sudden, for the characteristic sound of shooting had surprised them all and they could hear the bullets as they flew above the trench- "We are under attack!"

Anna took cover behind a wooden shield at the bottom of the trench, and she closed her eyes as she tried very hard not to recall all those images of death and destruction that she had witnessed at Tannya.

The sounds of battle were starting to affect her, and immediately her heart was beating like a hammer once again…

"We have enemy scouts approaching!" General Matthew screamed, his voice coming from another trench nearby- "With camouflage!"

"Return the fire!" Anna cried out to the world above, and her shaky hands were barely able to keep a hold on the ice mirror anymore.

Alistair, Alice and Kristoff grabbed their muskets and quickly climbed the wooden stairs, they aimed at anything that would move in the relative darkness out there and the sounds of gunfire became much louder when Arendelle replied to the attack.

"That's enough, you are coming back here as soon as you can, Anna!" Elsa said, losing control of herself- "How could I have sent you there? _What was I thinking!?"_

"No! The troops need me here!"

"Anna, please…"

"Just tell me how to use the freaking Crackers!"

Elsa seemed to be having an hyperventilation attack, the idea that Anna was in the trenches with bullets flying above her head was unthinkable and in the end she destroyed a chair with her Magic just to calm herself down.

Anna could get killed any moment, and even worse was the fact that she was now too involved in the army and coming back home was unacceptable for her…

"Anna" Elsa said, and then Anna opened her eyes- "We both know how crazy Hans really is… if we manage to repel his Infantry attacks, it's likely that he will eventually send a massive cavalry charge…"

"Then, we fire the Crackers, whatever that they are…"

"Anna, I love you…"

"Elsa… _Elsa!"_

Anna shook the ice mirror and screamed the name of her sister over and over again, but it was useless, the window had been closed… she came to the conclusion that Elsa just could not take it anymore, and probably she was crashing down in tears at those very moments.

Alistair, Kristoff and Alice were shooting, there were screams of pain coming from the valley and from the trenches as well and Anna, fighting hard to stop shaking, did the only thing that she could do to keep herself from breaking down at the bottom of that trench:

Anna grabbed her own musket, she climbed the wooden stairs and began to shoot at anything that moved, not ready at all to face the long and terrible night that awaited them all…


	16. Fog and Death

**16- Fog and Death**

The fight against the camouflaged troops lasted all night, the shooting ravaged for seven hours, some of them had almost managed to reach the Arendellian positions and, by daybreak, it became very clear what the enemy had been trying to do:

Most of the fallen scouts were discovered not far from the hill where Anna and her friends were entrenched, which could only mean that those forces had been sent with the mission to murder the Princess and demoralize her army…

Hans had sent a cowardly attack that any Kingdom would despise and condemn, a lowly action that spoke clearly of just how sick and twisted he really was.

The fighting had been intense and it would take some time to count the casualties, but the first reports calculated that at least two thousand scouts had been killed by the Arendellian counterattack.

Many others had managed to escape, but the fatal losses in the Arendelle side exceeded seven hundred… the field hospitals received three hundred more that had been injured, and the volunteer doctors and nurses did their best to save as many lives as they could.

The valley was covered by a dense fog that morning, the wind was soft and the sky was cloudy and gray as Princess Anna of Arendelle, awestruck, abandoned the trenches and walked into the field with a sword in her hand…

"Where are you?!" the Princess screamed, commanding her forces as they explored the remains of the murder expedition- "Where are you, Hans? You send these thugs to try and kill me, while you remain hidden like a rat behind your army?"

Alice and Kristoff advanced with caution at each side of Anna and Alistair, both of them carrying swords and finishing off the few Scouts that remained agonized between the wind and the fog…

"There is another one!" Anna would cry every time that she spotted a survivor, and then she smiled as either Kristoff or Alice would advance and deliver a fatal stab to the heart.

Anna could feel a cold cruelty growing in her heart as she witnessed those men dying by her orders, but despite the fact that she was surprised and shocked at herself, she could not help to enjoy and even laugh as they were killed…

She had spent the entire night shooting and getting shot at because of those rats, and now she was going to enjoy a little of vengeance-

"Wait!" Anna said, coming to a halt- "Kristoff, not that one…"

They had found a Scout that looked a little different to the others, wearing a dark red cloak instead of the brown and green that all the others had used as camouflage.

The man remained gasping on the ground behind a fallen friend, and his eyes looked straight at Anna when he realized that she was there-

"You…" the Scout Captain said, fighting for breath- "I see the mission has failed…"

Anna kicked away the captain's musket and saber, she kicked him in the nose as well, Alice and Kristoff escorted the Princess and the three of them just looked down at the man not very sure what to say…

"Hans sent you and your men to kill me, I know" Anna said, pointing her sword at his chest- "I'll tell you something… We have weapons that your murderous King knows nothing about, and when this war ends he will wish that he had never invaded Arendelle!"

The Captain looked up into Anna's cruel eyes, there was for a moment an awkward silence between them and then the man began to laugh.

It was a heartless and cruel laughter, he seemed to know something that they didn't and then Anna herself advanced and stabbed him through the heart. The Captain gasped and shook a little as he died, and Anna's blade emerged completely covered by blood.

The four of them remained in silence for a long time while other teams continued to explore, shivering a little in the fog and listening to the little gasps and cries of pain as even more survivors were stabbed...

"We should have taken him as prisoner…" Alistair said, having a bad feeling about it for some reason.

Anna looked up at the sky, and after that, they returned to the relative safety of the trenches and campsites of the Sammel Line.


	17. Snow in July

**17- Snow in July**

The Midnight Sun looked as magical as ever as Anna looked into the eyes of her sister for the last time before departing, her white horse was ready, her green cloak rippled in the wind and then she rode away through the forest leaving everything behind.

Elsa remained at Northern Arendelle while Anna commanded the Cavalry on their long travel to the South, surrounded by hundreds of proud riders and those green and purple flags everywhere…

"All follow me!" Anna screamed, excited and terrified at once as she faced her war adventure- "Long live Queen Elsa! _Long live Queen Elsa!"_

The riders replied by chanting the same words, everything seemed perfect and at those moments Anna did not realize that this adventure would destroy the life that she had known and replace it with something else…

They were riding so fast between rocks and trees, and then a weak and distant voice came from somewhere in the sky:

"Anna" Kristoff whispered, caressing her hair- "Anna… Anna, wake up…"

The forest and the Midnight Sun vanished slowly as Anna opened her eyes, and the beautiful colors and imagery of her dreams were replaced by the harshness of the trench walls, the smell of gunpowder and a grayish sky above.

"No, please let me sleep a little longer..."_  
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Anna's injured arm still caused her some pain, but at least she was lying on an improvised bed composed by straw, her feet were soft and cozy inside of her military boots and the green cloak had protected her from the wind and cold all night…

"Hi, Kristoff" Anna whispered, happy to see those familiar brown eyes looking down into hers- "I was having a… nice dream… how are you?"

"Anna, guess what?"

It had been three days since the night when the murder mission had failed, the sentinels had not reported anything unusual taking place at the other side of the valley and the Arendellian lines had enjoyed a relative peace all that time.

"Please, just a few minutes…"

Anna had been sleeping rather peacefully all those nights, but even though she looked normal and the cold fury that she had displayed that morning had receded, Kristoff knew that there was something unusual in her eyes…

"Anna, we have snow today" Kristoff said, shaking her a little before she would fall asleep again- "Everything is cold, just like it was November!"

_"What?!"_

Anna sat up on her stray bed after hearing those words, shocked to discover that there was indeed a wintry smell in the air and the day was really cold. She could see her breath as vapor in the air every time that she exhaled, Kristoff was smiling and then a wonderful idea formed in the depths of Anna's mind…

"My sister!" Anna said, standing up and wrapping herself in the comfortable green cloak- "Kristoff, do you think that maybe Elsa…"

"What else could this be?"

Anna and Kristoff climbed their way out of the trench, they grabbed bread and cheese for breakfast from one of the kitchens and they joined the rest of the confused Generals, Captains and soldiers as they cheered and admired this incredible snow in July.

All of them were looking up at the snowy sky, and even though nobody was saying it out loud for now, they were sure that Queen Elsa had to be responsible for it…

"Anna, Kristoff!" Alice called out, waving at them from a good distance- "Over here!"

Alice and her father awaited them nearby one of the field hospitals, surrounded by soldiers that had started to play with the snow. Anna and Kristoff dashed to join them, and then Anna realized that both of them were busy trying to repair one of those strange guns that she had seen before…

It was a long, eerie and heavy-looking gun mounted on a tripod, some of the soldiers looked at it with great curiosity and Alistair seemed to be cleaning something inside of it at the moment when Anna and Kristoff arrived.

"This is your sister's work, you can bet on it!" Alice said, standing up to hug Anna with great enthusiasm- "We cannot believe it!"

"I know Elsa is behind it, Alice" Anna replied- "General Alistair, _what is this?"_

"Your Highness" Alistair said, patting the unidentified large gun with great appreciation- "This is a _Cracker_… Queen Elsa did not want us to reveal them to you until the moment came, but you have seen them everywhere already!"

"This one is broken, but we can repair it in no time!" Alice commented- "Your Highness, what do you think your sister has in mind?"

Anna opened her mouth to say something, but then a voice that she knew very well came from the inside of the stylish blue bag that now she carried everywhere:

"Anna!" Elsa cried, her voice traveling by Magic all the way from the North of Arendelle- "Anna! _Are you there?"_


	18. I am Proud

**18- I am Proud**

Anna opened her bag, everyone around her payed attention with great interest and she drew out the ice mirror with both hands, happy and excited to see her sister Elsa once again at the other side of the magical window.

This time Elsa was standing at the balcony of her castle up in the Northern Mountain, she was surrounded by a powerful blizzard and Anna, not surprised at all, could see beautiful streams of ice magic emanating from both of her hands…

"Elsa, I knew it was you!"

The Queen looked far more peaceful than she had been the last time, she was even smiling and the shadows under her eyes had vanished without a trace.

"Anna, first of all I want to say that I am proud of you" Elsa said, her hair and blue dress rippling in the wind- "I can accept that this is your quest, our army really needs you and I am sure that our parents would be proud, even prouder than they ever were of me…"

"Thank you" Anna said, relieved to see that her sister had recovered a good spirit- "Elsa, how are you doing this to the South all the way from Northern Arendelle?"

Elsa smiled even more brightly at those words, rather amused at the look of surprise that she discovered in Anna's excited blue eyes...

"I was just about to ask you about the weather, but now I see my plan is working" Elsa explained- "Anna, I am not sure how well my Magic is going to work because I am so far from the Front, but please… prepare our army to endure severe cold, just in case!"

"What do you have in mind?"

"We believe that the Southern Isles Army has calculated everything for a Summer war, since they are not expecting my Magic to hit them from such a long distance… Anna, if I can send Winter to you that would change the entire plan for them!"

"What about us?"

"We have supplies for a Winter in July and even more, since this is our land and they are the invaders…"

Alice, Kristoff and Alistair were listening to every word with great attention, Anna loved the Winter strategy and at that precise moment something happened at the Sammel Line:

The alarm bells began to ring starting from the artillery positions up in the hills, the sentinels descended riding their horses and very soon the screams began to spread the terrible news between the trenches and from one campsite to another:

"They have crossed the bridges! They are coming! _They are coming!"_

Anna looked up at the highest hill as the sentinels rode down as fast as they could, she called for them and they came to a halt in front of her a few minutes later…

"Are they advancing already?" Anna asked, lowering the ice mirror.

"Yes, your Highness! We have counted thirty Infantry divisions so far, led by cavalry units and backed by their artillery… They could open fire any moment!"

"How many men?"

"Seventeen thousand, perhaps more…"

Anna felt like she had fallen into icy water, suddenly she could not breath normally anymore and her heart began to race like it had happened so many times before… the soldiers all around her looked at each other with utter disbelief, and everyone waited for official orders to obey.

"Load the shells, and point our artillery at the middle of the valley!" Anna cried out, the courage coming back to her with full intensity- "Call all of our Infantry to action! To your arms, everyone! _I want twelve cavalry divisions ready to depart!"_

"Immediately, your Highness!" Alistair exclaimed, and he dashed to find the other generals and coordinate everything that Anna had just ordered.

"Anna!" Elsa called through the ice mirror, and an instant later both sisters looked into each other's eyes once again.

"Elsa, I shall command our forces in battle" Anna whispered, trying not to shed tears before her sister- "I just want you to know that I love you, just in case that we never see each other again…"

"Fight well, Anna! _I am proud of you!"_

Anna looked up at the sky, she lowered the ice mirror and the window was closed as she dashed on her way to the trenches… Elsa found herself completely alone at the balcony of her castle, and for the first time her angst became entangled with an unbelievable pride.

Elsa concentrated on her powers, she swirled on the spot and then she sent even more bolts of Ice Magic flying to the Southern skies, hoping to unleash against the enemy forces the coldest and cruelest blizzard that they could ever imagine…


	19. The Sammel Offensive

**19- The Sammel Offensive**

Anna covered her ears with her hands, she steadied herself on her brown horse and tried very hard not to cry, the very ground shaking as Arendelle's artillery opened fire against the Southern Isles armies.

The guns atop the Sammel Line's hills were not as heavy as Tannya's defenses, but the sheer number of shells fired caused a deafening and thunderous hell that could be heard many miles away…

"Please, let the shelling stop them" Anna whispered, her hands unable to protect her ears from the awful growls of her artillery- _"Please…"_

Alistair, Matthew and many other commanders and Cavalry leaders escorted Anna, and also Kristoff and Alice were there. They were already mounting on their horses with the sabers in their hands, awaiting for orders at each side of the Princess.

A huge blast after another would shoot shell after shell, a true storm of death unleashed to defend Arendelle-

Thousands of Arendellian soldiers awaited deep in their trenches the order to charge, the Cavalry divisions were ready in front of the Line and meanwhile the forces of King Hans continued to advance…

"They will get the first hit any moment!" Alistair screamed to Anna above the shellfire, observing the enemy troops by means of a telescope.

Anna could see in the distance the hundreds of Cavalry riders that commanded seventeen thousand soldiers through the snowy grounds of the valley, they truly were a formidable force and then the first shells reached the ground:

The first explosion blew apart three riders and their horses, the second hit a frozen lake causing a storm of ice and snow, the cavalry took another blow and seven more shells hit the troops killing dozens of men…

"All Forward!" cried out the leader of them all, an impressive man of murderous eyes pointing his saber at Arendelle's lines- _"For the Southern Isles!"_

The courageous riders and also the Infantry behind them began to disperse as they heard the shells coming, trying to avoid the direct hits and taking cover behind rocks to escape from the shrapnel as they advanced-

Anna realized that her artillery would not stop seventeen thousand men, they were simply too many and they would soon reach the Northern edge of the valley despite taking heavy casualties…

It was the moment of truth, everything was ready to defend the Sammel Line and Anna, gathering courage out of nowhere, hoped that she was ready to command her forces to the most dangerous battle that Arendelle had ever seen.

"Father" Anna whispered, looking up at the sky- _"Give me the strength…"_

The artillery stopped firing after the enemy armies crossed their range of attack, the wild cries of battle reached the Arendellian trenches and Anna knew that this was the moment at last:

She made her horse advance a few yards, and then she turned around to face the thirteen hundred riders that she would command to battle…

"They shall not pass!" Anna cried out, unsheathing her sword- _"For Arendelle!"_

Anna faced the valley once again, she pointed the sword forward and then she rode towards death with a high cry of battle, her green cloak rippling in the snowy wind as Arendelle's Cavalry charged after her.

The ringing bells were the signal for the Infantry to attack, they all grabbed their bayonets and muskets and immediately the soldiers began to emerge from the trenches to charge into the valley like an incredible swarm…

Twenty thousand men were ready to give everything in the great battle for Arendelle, inspired by their incredible leader and encouraged by the very freezing wind and the snow falling from the sky.

They thought of their families back home, they knew that they were fighting to defend everything they loved...

Anna looked like a legend riding at the head of them all, and there, seconds before the armies would face each other in battle, she began to recall all of the brightest and happiest memories of her life:

All those days playing with Elsa in the snow, all those wonderful birthdays, her mother reading fairytales for her as she fell asleep, the camping travels with her sister, all those Winter nights admiring the Northern Lights and her father teaching her how to ride a horse for the first time…

Then Kristoff and Elsa appeared in her mind, and Anna had no way to know that at those very moments Elsa, crying in solitude, remained at her frozen balcony holding her portrait and thinking intensely of her.

Arendelle's cavalry opened fire with their muskets, Anna crossed their lines beheading a Captain and then the armies clashed at last...


	20. Nightmare

**20- Nightmare**

All that Anna could hear were screams of battle, blades clashing, muskets firing and cries of agony all around her, the battle had started with unprecedented ferocity, men were falling left and right and she knew that only luck and destiny would save her life in the middle of that carnage.

The proud riders engaged and fought each other just like it happened at Tannya, and meanwhile the soldiers from both sides collided in a terrible crash as they wielded their bayonets, tossed grenades as far as they could and opened fire at point blank range...

Anna knew that it was going to be worse than the first battle she had witnessed, but she was not ready anyway to experience those terrible visions of suffering and death:

Hundreds of men had fallen already with their throats slashed by a bayonet, their chests pierced from one side to the other or their heads torn apart by a shot straight to the face...

The smells of blood and gunpowder quickly combined in a stench that filled the cold and wintry air.

"Kristoff!" Anna screamed, trying without success to spot any signs of her boyfriend somewhere in the fray- _"Kristoff!"_

Anna soon found herself evading sharp blades, looking all around for her friends and slashing her way through enemy lines, delivering a sword blow after another at every red cloaked soldier that she could catch as she advanced.

The warm blood splattered her cloak and face as she sliced off hands, arms and even heads, once again it felt like she was transforming into some kind of monster and Anna feared that she was not herself anymore…

It was like she had fallen into a nightmare, and suddenly her body was under the control of a separate and sinister force.

Just fight, keep fighting, just keep attacking…

Anna did not stop to think that the soldiers she was murdering had families back home, she had become a savage creature trapped in the middle of a calamity and, just like a wild animal, she was forced to defend herself from the dangers that surrounded her.

All she knew was that the red cloaks were the danger, and if Elsa herself would show up at the battlefield wearing the enemy uniform Anna would slash her throat all the same…

Alistair proved to be a fearsome fighter as he took down an enemy rider after another, Alice killed a General with a shot of her musket and then Anna, turning around, caught a glimpse of Kristoff fighting one of the enemy commanders a good distance to her right.

It looked like Kristoff was not injured, and Anna tried her best to reach him but the snowy wind concealed them from her view almost immediately… then she heard the sounds of bullets passing as they missed her head by inches, a grenade came flying out of nowhere and Anna knew that she had no time to escape.

The fiery explosion was the last thing she could hear of the battle sounds around her, everything now replaced by a wild and constant ringing in her ears…

Anna crashed on the bloodied snow as her horse collapsed from the shrapnel impacts it had taken, but this time she just grabbed her sword and scrambled back on her feet to keep fighting.

Where the hell was Hans?

Anna knew that her old friend was a coward, but she could not believe that the King of the Southern Isles would not even dare to lead his men to battle… To imagine Hans safe and sound behind the lines just enraged Anna even more, and after that point she lost all sense of time and of herself.

It was impossible for Anna to tell for how long the battle had been ravaging already, since time itself became twisted and weird when you were in the middle of a war with a sword in your hand…

The greater numbers and psychological superiority gave the edge to Arendelle's forces after all, the red cloaks began to run for their lives after suffering huge losses and suddenly the last of Anna's slashing attacks was stopped by a powerful hand holding her right wrist.

"Anna!" Kristoff screamed above the cheers and screams of celebration, shaking Anna as he tried to bring her back to the real world- "Anna! _Anna!"_


	21. Aftermath

**21- Aftermath**

The voice of Kristoff seemed like it was coming from a far off land beyond the mountains and the snow, like it was just a whisper from a ghost and not the loud screams from a man holding her arm and yelling in her face.

"Answer me, Anna!"

Anna remained mentally altered and wild for a few seconds more, and then, slowly at first, she recognized those brown eyes and the sounds all around her began to seem normal once again…

"Anna!" Kristoff continued, shaking her a little more- "Anna, do you hear me?"

"Kristoff?" Anna asked, shocked and confused as she lowered her sword- "What? I am sorry, I did not mean to attack you, I… it's over now…"

"We crushed them!" Kristoff exclaimed- "Anna, what happened to you?"

Anna had no idea what to reply to that question, and then she became awestruck as she looked around and appreciated the devastated battlefield:

The snow was more red than white as far as she could see, fallen soldiers from both armies littered the field, there were body parts everywhere, flags of the Southern Isles laid abandoned here and there and thousands of her troops remained celebrating their wild victory.

This ghastly view shocked Anna very deeply, but she became even more scared as she looked more carefully at her own body…

"Anna, oh no…"

Anna's purple uniform had been slashed by blades several times, leaving deep cuts in many parts of her body. There was a particularly severe injury running along her left arm, she was losing a considerable amount of blood and her right leg had taken some of the same shrapnel that had killed her horse.

The Princess of Arendelle was covered by blood, both her own and that belonging to other people, her long and elegant sword was completely bloodstained as well and she looked like an image taken from the most terrifying nightmare of all…

"Kristoff, this does not cause me any pain" Anna cried, unable to understand what had happened to her- "Why is that? Why am I so injured?"

"It was a hell of a battle!" Kristoff explained, worried as he discovered that cold, lifeless look in Anna's eyes once again- "Anna, we have to take you back to the Line, to the field hospital… Hey, anyone! _We need a horse, now!"_

Anna became terrified as she realized that she could not recall getting injured in battle.

She had absolutely no memory of getting hit by any blade, she was just… fighting, and now not even the shrapnel wounds in her leg would cause her any discomfort.

"What is happening to me…?"

Kristoff supported Anna as they waited for a horse, several of the injured soldiers drew closer to see if they could help and then Alice came riding a white and considerably bloodstained horse.

"Oh my, this is really bad" Alice said, very alarmed as she discovered what Anna looked like after the battle- "Quick, Kristoff! I'll take her to the hospital!"

Kristoff used his great strength and he lifted Anna without effort, she did not moan in pain as he expected and then, trying not to cry, he helped her to mount on the horse behind Alice and steady herself as best as possible.

"Go, Alice!"

Alice rode back to the Arendellian positions as fast as she could, Anna hugged her from behind with an incredible strength, many other injured people were being evacuated from the battlefield and soon they arrived at the nearest field hospital that Alice could find.

"This is her Highness coming!" Alice cried out, coming to a halt nearby the entrance- "Princess Anna is injured! _I have Princess Anna here!"_

Anna witnessed in silence as an entire team of doctors and nurses came dashing out of the white tent, all wearing gray and white uniforms marked with red crosses. They looked awestruck at the sight of the Princess, but everyone recovered very quickly and she was lying on a stretcher a few seconds later.

"Oh no, your Highness" a young nurse cried, trying to stay calm- "You have to resist!"

Anna began to cry in fear and confusion as they entered the field hospital, and she noticed the strong smell of the medicines and disinfectants that were ready to be applied to the thousands of injured troops that they were expecting.

"I cannot feel anything" Anna whispered, looking up at the young nurse- "I do not… remember when it happened… Why? Why is that?"

"We have to take the shrapnel out first" a doctor said nearby, even though Anna could not see him- "Astrid, give her some chloroform please…"

"No, wait…" Anna whispered, but there was nothing she could do.

Astrid applied a piece of wet clothe to her nose and mouth, it smelled very sweet, Anna closed her eyes and a few minutes later the world vanished for her…


	22. A Winter Night

**22- A Winter Night**

The severe wind was whispering outside as Anna opened her eyes, the images around her looked dim and out of focus, her mind was unclear and the very first thing that she noticed was just how cold everything was.

Anna realized that she was lying on a better bed this time, this was not a stretcher anymore… it was incredibly comforting if compared to the straw that she had been sleeping on during her days at the Front, and her body was covered by a very soft purple sheet.

There was a wide variety of intense pains coming from virtually every part of her body, which made it difficult for her to make any movement but also cheered her up considerably as she remained on that bed.

"I can… _feel,_ once again" Anna whispered, touching a side of her face with her right hand- "What place is this?"

She was definitely in the interior of a large camping tent, but this was not any of the field hospitals that she had visited before. This place looked more like a personal room than a campsite at the lines, and when Anna looked she discovered that her backpack and her sword were there with her, just beside her bed.

The wind kept howling, it was getting colder, her eyesight soon improved and the outdoors light was weak, which made Anna think that yet another day was over and a freezing night was drawing closer…

Anna could hear voices talking outside, people were passing by in different directions, there was no shooting and it seemed that Arendelle's Army was enjoying some peace… The last thing that she could remember was that sweet smell of the anesthetic, everything had vanished and now she was here.

"Kristoff? Alice? Where are you?" Anna said, and this simple action caused something that she had not expected at all:

Her voice was really weak, harsh and very hoarse, it caused her a great discomfort to talk and she began to cough almost immediately. The muscles of her back and the sides of her body released waves of intense pain every time that she would cough, so she tried to stop it as best as she could.

Anna's attempt to sit up proved to be a disaster let alone the idea of standing up and walking out of the tent, so the Princess decided to just take it easy for the moment and await for somebody to come and check up on her.

"I wonder how long it has been, since the battle" Anna whispered, smiling and looking up at the green and purple canvas- "All the red snow, who knows how many dead… and now, nothing! Then, maybe this means…"

Anna's spirits raised as she imagined that maybe the war was over, that perhaps the crushing defeat had caused the forces of the Southern Isles to start a mutiny and Hans, accepting his failure, had decided to back off and return to their country.

The idea was beautiful, everyone returning home…

"Yeah, I heard they are building even more bridges" a soldier said, passing nearby Anna's tent accompanied by others- "I wish we would just shell those to smithereens before they cross again, but General Alistair keeps talking about our Crackers…"

"Just a dream" Anna said, forgetting her beautiful fantasy as she was dragged back to reality.

Anna closed her eyes, she wrapped herself in the purple sheet, the weather was getting even colder and she just waited for anything to happen… soon it was completely dark, and her mind became invaded by a variety of awful images and eerie flashbacks of the battle.

"Think of Elsa, and all of our happy moments together" Anna whispered to herself, trying to fight against the darkness of her mind- "Think of Sven, and Olaf back home…"

The dark memories continued to assault her, so Anna opened her eyes and then she discovered that the light of a torch was glowing outside. The entrance of her personal tent was suddenly opened, and two people came inside wearing purple coats and heavy snow boots.

"Anna!" Kristoff cried out, dashing towards her- "Wait, do not move!"

"Look, Arendelle's Pride is feeling better" Alice said, closing the entrance so the freezing wind would not come inside- "How is it going, your Highness?"

Anna sighed with a stupendous relief as Kristoff sat beside her on the bed, they looked into each other's eyes, Kristoff smiled and then he started caressing her hair.

_"My Iceman..."_

Alice was laughing, and for a few precious moments Anna, happy and protected, tried to convince herself that the war had ended and everyone would go home the following day…


	23. Give them Hell

**23- Give them Hell**

The wintry storm continued to get worse as the hours passed that night, thousands of soldiers and horses were taking refuge inside of their tents and the sky was completely dark, as the Moon and the stars could not be seen through the icy clouds that covered a great part of Southern Arendelle.

The Arendellian soldiers had started to play board games in order to clear their minds a little, and the arrival of a new shipment of carrots, potatoes and cheese had made wonders to lift the morale of the entrenched troops all the way from East to West.

Anna's army already knew that Queen Elsa was responsible for the unnatural weather, but their opponents at the other side of the valley were very alarmed… they just could not believe it, and something really important was taking place at the main campsite of the Southern Isles Army:

The cold, underground room was illuminated by a few torches attached to the walls, there were several wooden tables with maps on top of them and a good number of Captains and Generals had gathered there that night.

All of them had feared the moment when they would inform their leader about the disastrous defeat that they had suffered three days ago, since the King had been busy receiving weaponry and supplies at the coast when it had happened…

King Hans of the Southern Isles had returned to the Front just to discover that his armies were in shock, his field hospitals were full to the brim of injured men, the Generals were ashamed, a mysterious snowstorm was wreaking havoc everywhere and entire campsites laid abandoned.

What had caused this severe drawback to his forces? Was it really possible that Arendelle's defenses were so strong?

The situation was a true disaster, Hans ordered a War Council to be celebrated immediately and now the King was sitting by a great round table together with twelve of his must trusted commanders…

"Tell me" Hans said, his hands clasped together as he looked around at all of them- "How many casualties have we suffered in our latest offensive?"

The King looked fearsome wearing the golden crown of the Southern Isles, a gray military uniform and an elegant red cloak. The royal sword was lying on the wooden table beside a map, a weapon that, unlike Anna's, had not seen action in the war yet.

There was cold fury in Hans' eerie green eyes, and the Generals knew that they had to be very careful about the words that they would choose…

"We have sent seventeen thousand men, your Majesty" a General said, his voice shy and weak- "Ten… Ten thousand were killed, five thousand are gravely injured and two thousand managed to escape unscathed."

They all remained in silence for awhile, trying to understand the true meaning of those words. The losses were devastating, nobody had expected that the offensive would end like that and it started to seem that the war would be lost…

"I see" Hans replied- "Not to mention that we lost the seven hundred riders that commanded the offensive… Now, tell me: How much damage have we caused to the Arendellian forces?"

"We are not sure, your Majesty" a Captain explained, speaking from the other side of the round table- "We calculate that they have suffered around three thousand dead, including Cavalry, and a similar number has been injured."

They all knew what was going to happen next, and there was a cold, awkward silence as they awaited the inevitable explosion…

_"How could you let it happen!?"_ Hans yelled, standing up and slamming his right fist against the table- "I trusted you! I believed in you! This is a major blow to our cause, they must be celebrating and all of this happened because you are _worthless!"_

"Their artillery defends the Sammel Line very well" another General said, trying to act normally as Hans kicked his own chair away- "Our forces had already suffered heavy damage before the clash, and… your Majesty…"

"Please tell me that she's dead" Hans replied, looking down at all the Generals with those eerie green eyes- _"Please tell me that Anna is dead!"_

"Anna herself commanded their charge, and the survivors have confirmed to us that she was there, fighting with a sword in her hand…"

The highest leaders of the Southern Isles Army really wanted to ask their King why he had been away from the lines during the offensive, why he had not led his forces to the battle like Anna had done...

A few of them started to think that Hans was a coward, but for now, they kept their dark thoughts to themselves.

"And now this storm" a Captain continued- "This must be the work of the Snow Queen, her evil Magic is all around us! Your Majesty, we are not prepared for a wintry war, this was not the plan… We believe that the war is lost, and it would be wise to return to the Southern Isles as soon as possible."

"How many men did we lose at Tannya?" Hans replied, walking slowly from one side to the other- "How many were killed at our failed attempt on Anna's life? And now, this disastrous offensive! How many men are dead so far, you tell me!"

"Seventeen thousand of our men killed so far! Ten thousand more are injured! Your Majesty, this is futile!"

"Seventeen thousand!" Hans growled, coming to a halt and landing both of his hands on the table- "We cannot accept defeat just like that, our comrades have not died in vain! Now, all follow me, gentlemen…"

Hans grabbed a torch from the wall, he abandoned the underground room and all of the Generals and Captains followed him in silence. They felt the freezing wind as they reached the exterior, and then the King smiled proudly at something that his commanders had not been expecting to see:

Hundreds of red cloaked soldiers were carrying around some of the largest artillery shells that the Generals had ever seen, they were as large as the ones that Arendelle had used at Tannya, they were everywhere and even more continued to arrive...

"These arrived yesterday, the heaviest shells that we could bring aboard our fleet" Hans explained to the commanders, turning around to look at them- "We have enough firepower to reduce the Sammel Line to ashes… and now, my friends… _Let's give them Hell!"_


	24. The Queen Calling

**24- The Queen Calling**

The wintry storm lasted for all night, the wind had caused eerie howls as it passed through the forests nearby, it really felt like a January night and, by daybreak, the Arendellian soldiers emerged from their refuges to discover frost covering their campsites and loads of snow everywhere.

It was quite incredible to see a Winter landscape instead of the summery valley that they had known a few days ago...

Thousands of soldiers, supply workers and medical staff cheered and shivered that morning at the Sammel Line, since the snow was knee-deep in many parts and they knew that this would ruin the enemy's war strategy completely.

Hans could not have predicted this at all, and if this weather continued there would be no way for him to sustain his army for a long campaign...

The bells ringed happily to call the soldiers to have a breakfast of bread, potatoes and tea, everyone wearing heavy coats as protection from the cold. The news that Princess Anna had awakened also caused loads of celebration, for everyone knew how brave she had been and what grave injuries she had received during the battle.

It was a peaceful day for Anna indeed, and she even laughed a little as she looked up at the vast and frozen sky…

"Take that, Alice!" Kristoff said, throwing a snowball at his friend- "That's seven times I have hit you, it means I win!"

"No, it has been five times only!" Alice replied, grabbing some snow to make a ball- "It's not fair Kristoff, you are a lot stronger than I am! Your snowballs hurt like hell!"

"You hit me pretty hard anyway!"

Anna was sitting on the snow just outside of her personal tent, she was protected from the cold wind by a purple coat wrapped around her shoulders and the Princess, sighing, smiled as she observed her friends playing with the snow a few yards from her.

The campsites and the valley hardly looked like a war theater at all, the wind was soft and she could not believe just how peaceful everything was…

"Kristoff is right, Alice!" Anna said, as loudly as her damaged voice would allow her- "That was the seventh time, you have lost this fight…"

"Oh, please your Highness…"

Kristoff and Alice stopped playing at last, and they walked towards Anna laughing and whispering things to each other. Anna looked up at them with a little smile, and then they sat on the snow at each side of the Princess.

"We all knew that Queen Elsa was powerful" Alice commented, throwing yet another snowball at nothing in particular- "But doing something like this while she is so far from all of us… I can't believe it!"

"Yeah, it's really awesome" Kristoff replied- "Anna, how is your voice?"

The doctors had said that Anna's voice would take some time to recover, since it had been damaged by her wild screams of rage and power during the devastating twenty minutes that the battle had lasted.

It was nothing permanent, but it was definitely a good idea for Anna to take it easy and rest her voice for a few days…

"It feels better than last night, at least I am not coughing like that anymore" Anna said, looking sideways at both of her friends- "Who knew that this could happen? The worst part is… that I do not even remember screaming like that during the battle."

The three of them remained in silence for some time, just appreciating the view of the wintry landscape, listening to the soft whispers of the wind and enjoying the sweet and incredible peace that Elsa's snowstorm had created…

They could hear some soldiers talking and laughing nearby, and then Kristoff remembered that they had heard the friendly ringing of the bells some twenty minutes ago.

"We have skipped breakfast" he said, standing up in a hurry- "Come, Alice! Anna, what would you like to have?"

Alice stood up as well, and at that very instant they heard that a well-known voice was coming from inside of Anna's personal tent:

_"Anna!"_ Elsa's voice said, and this time the Queen sounded happy and excited- "Anna! Are you there?"

Alice dashed into the tent, she opened the backpack and returned holding the ice mirror between her hands. She handed it over to Anna with a smile, and the Princess beamed as the first images started to appear in the frozen surface of the magical device.

Elsa appeared with incredible clarity, she was at her personal bedroom this time and both sisters looked extremely happy to see each other once again…

"Hello, Elsa!"


	25. If I Leave

**25- If I Leave**

Anna started to cough a little after saying those simple words, she had sounded just as damaged and hoarse as she had been last night and Elsa, surprised, realized immediately that something strange was happening to the voice of her sister.

"Anna, what happened to your voice?" Elsa asked, her eyes worried and sad- "You sound really bad!"

Kristoff and Alice hurried to sit on the snow at each side of Anna once again, waving at Elsa and beaming at her. Anna knew that her friends were fascinated by the Ice Mirror, and she appreciated that they would distract her sister while she tried to stop coughing.

"Hello, your Majesty!" Kristoff said, holding a snowball in his right hand- "You know, it's getting cold here…"

"Yeah, thanks for the snowstorm!" Alice added- "We loved it…"

"I am making a great effort, it has not been easy because I am so far from you all" Elsa replied, and she looked at her sister once again- "Anna, what is it?"

"I am fine, it's just that I screamed really bad during the latest encounter" Anna explained- "Elsa, I have fantastic news to give you! We have crushed a very strong offensive four days ago, their losses are huge and…"

"I know, we received a group of messengers this morning" Elsa continued- "Arendelle is celebrating! They told me everything, how you led everyone to the battle… Anna, we all are so proud of you, and now…"

"What is it?"

Elsa became silent for some time, Anna just waited for an answer and it seemed that the Queen was not very sure how to explain whatever it was that she wanted to say… Anna coughed a little more, and she moaned in pain from the many injuries that her fragile body had received.

_"Elsa?"_

"Anna, we know how injured you really are" Elsa explained, sighing with sadness- "You cannot even walk with your injured leg, weeks will pass before you can use your arm again! I believe that you have performed your royal duties with admirable courage, so I have given orders to bring you back home by daybreak tomorrow."

_"What?!"_ Anna cried, shocked at the Queen's decision- "Elsa, you cannot do that, our army needs me at the Front!"

"I have taken this decision together with all the Generals, not to mention that everyone wants to see you back home… Anna, the war is technically won! They are not ready for a wintry theater, maybe we are not going to need the Crackers after all…"

"I… well, I don't know what to say…"

Kristoff sighed, and even though there was sadness in those brown eyes for a moment, he quickly accepted that Elsa's orders were the best option to protect Anna and finally get her out of the Front.

"Kristoff and Alice shall escort you in the travel, together with a special squadron of twenty riders to protect you just in case… Oh Anna, I cannot wait to see you again! I'll have your bedroom ready, and orange juice, strawberry pie and a warm bath everyday, you deserve everything."

"It's… fine, I am looking forward to it…"

"I have to close the window now, it cannot stay open for too long" Elsa said, dabbing one of her eyes- "Alice, Kristoff… please be careful and protect my sister during the long travel back home… Anna, I love you!"

"I love you too, Elsa…"

The Ice Mirror returned to normality after those words, Anna sighed with nostalgia and after that the three of them remained quiet, just enjoying the voices coming from a kitchen nearby and the whispers of the wind…

"What is it, Anna?" Kristoff asked, looking right into her eyes- "I thought you wanted to go back home…"

"Kristoff, I really want to go back, but only after the war is over! This is not the moment to return home, not yet! My army needs me, what is going to happen if I just leave?"

"My father shall take charge of everything" Alice replied, beaming with great pride- "We have the upper hand now, anyway… Everything shall be fine, your Highness, and very soon you shall be safe and sound at Arendelle Palace."

Alice smiled, Kristoff hugged Anna and the Princess did not speak anymore after those words, since she knew that the Queen's decision was final and she was not in conditions to negotiate, anyway.

Elsa was right, her injuries were too severe and she just had to return home…

The idea of seeing Northern Arendelle made Anna smile, and even though a strong part of her wished to stay at the Front, soon she accepted everything and began to get ready to say farewell to the armies that she had commanded in battle.

Anna enjoyed a breakfast of cheese and potatoes a few minutes later, the freezing wind returned with great intensity and she looked up at the sky thinking of her parents...


	26. A Homage for Anna

**26- A Homage for Anna  
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The Army of Arendelle paid homage to Anna that day, with every General visiting her personally, every Captain bringing a special gift, thousands of soldiers singing folklore songs for her and several shots of the Line's artillery aimed at the middle of the valley.

Anna had not expected to receive such a beautiful and honorific farewell from her troops, and she cried several times during her last day with the Army...

The announced departure of their leader made everyone quite sad, but at the same time they were happy that very soon Anna would be safe at the Palace and very far from the horrors of the Front.

General Alistair personally selected the Cavalry Captains that would escort Anna and her friends in their travel back home…

Queen Elsa wanted only the best to protect her sister, two expert nurses were called to be part of the team as well and the Captains were given a map that would lead them through a secret path across the forests and fjords.

It started to snow once again as the wintry day turned into night, Anna went to sleep inside of her personal tent and very soon she found herself lost in a very strange dream…

Anna had arrived at Arendelle Town, but the streets were deserted and not even the birds were singing anywhere… It was a gray and sad day, there was no wind at all and not even a single person had showed up to welcome her back home.

There was nothing but solitude and silence at the Palace when Anna crossed the gates, no servants dashing to attend her and no guards patrolling the hallways…

"Elsa?" Anna said as she explored a hallway after another, looking for her sister- "Elsa, where are you? I am back!"

Anna was surprised to discover that every door was locked, every room was full of dust and every window was sealed with wooden panels… something was definitely wrong at Arendelle Palace, and then she found Elsa at the Throne Hall.

"Elsa?"

The Queen of Arendelle stood beside her throne in total silence, her back was to her sister and she was as cold and quiet as a statue. Her long purple cloak was stained by blood, and the dust gathered on the carpet around her hinted that Elsa had not moved at all for days or even weeks…

"Hello, Anna…" Elsa said, her voice eerie and cold.

Anna began to walk towards her sister, the hall was darkening as the Princess advanced and then Elsa, finally reacting, raised her head and turned around to face her sister:

Elsa's eyes had been replaced by dark shadows, her wicked smile featured long fangs and her claw-like hands were covered by blood…

_"Elsa!"_ Anna screamed in terror, waking up in the middle of the night.

Anna scrambled on her bed as she tried to escape from her nightmare, she cried and kicked trapped somewhere between reality and dreams, another scream came after the first and then Kristoff was awakened by all of this.

"Anna, calm down!" Kristoff said, caressing her hair and holding Anna's uninjured arm- "It's not real! Come back! My sweetie, come back!"

"W-what place is this? _Where am I?"_ Anna cried out, a part of her still believing that she remained trapped with a monster- "What? Oh, Kristoff…"

Anna was finally back to her senses, realizing that she remained at the Sammel Line and that it was her last night there before departing. She let her tears flow free as Kristoff hugged and comforted her, just trying to forget the images of her nightmare and the awful monster that her sister had become…

"It was awful" Anna cried, looking into her boyfriend's brown eyes through the darkness- "Kristoff, I had arrived at the Palace, and Elsa… Elsa was…"

"It was not real, just do not think about it…"

The wind was howling outside of their tent, and just like it had been for several nights in a row, the freezing temperature was dropping to a dangerous level. Anna could see her breath as vapor in the air as she cried and gasped, Kristoff was patient and the Princess finally calmed down.

"T-thank you, Kristoff…"

"We have to sleep well, it will be a long day tomorrow…"

Anna and Kristoff kissed, they wrapped themselves in the warm sheets once again and they closed their eyes… everything seemed normal at the Front, and then, all of a sudden, they could hear a great explosion somewhere nearby.

"What was that?" Anna whispered, very alarmed.

They sat up on the bed, Kristoff sighed and rubbed his eyes, Anna shivered in cold and after that another blast shook the very ground... there were many screams coming from a good distance, and then the powerful bells began to ring in a very loud and alarming style.

"Anna, we have a shelling attack!"


	27. Shellfire

**27- Shellfire**

Anna and Kristoff came out of their tent to discover soldiers running in every direction, Captains screaming orders, sleepy-looking medical staff emerging from a nearby hospital and torches everywhere illuminating the dark and frozen night.

"Abandon the trenches!" Alistair yelled, running around with a sword in his hand- "To the bunkers, everyone! To the bunkers, _and take the Crackers with you!"_

At that moment three more explosions took place somewhere in the valley, devastating blasts caused by enemy shells impacting not far from the Arendellian trenches… the ground was shaking with every detonation, and there were countless particles of ice and snow falling on the campsites.

Anna could see the flashes of white light coming from the enemy guns across the valley, it seemed to her that they were looking for the perfect angle to shoot at the Sammel Line and she realized that they would receive the first hit any moment…

"General Alistair!" Anna called, advancing slowly through the snowy campsite as she was supported by Kristoff- _"Return the fire!"_

Alistair turned around with surprise, a soldier nearby dashed to give him a torch and then he hurried to join Anna and Kristoff. The proud General looked sleepy but alert, totally furious at this cowardly attack in the middle of the night…

"Your Highness, we cannot hit them! They are too far, our guns are not strong enough… Now, get to your personal bunker!"

"There must be something we can do!"

Kristoff decided to lift Anna and carry her in his arms, since the Princess remained unable to run, walk or even stand by herself. She moaned because of the pain from her injured arm and leg, but compared to her safety any discomfort was unimportant for now.

"We thought that this could happen" Alistair explained, guiding Kristoff towards the nearby bunker- "We have no option but to take refuge underground and wait for the shellfire to end… _Hey, Alice!"_

"Father!"

Alice came running between the terrified soldiers, carrying a musket in her hands and a saber hanging from her waist just in case of battle. She was wearing a purple coat on top of her night clothing, and she looked just as sleepy and shocked as everyone else.

"Go with Anna and Kristoff, to the Royal bunker… I'll see you there!"

Alistair abandoned the group, dashing to coordinate the evacuation of that part of the Line. Hundreds of sleepy soldiers looked confused as they tried to find the nearest bunker, and all of them were shivering in the terrible cold of that night.

Anna witnessed as the medical staff began to evacuate injured men from the field hospitals, and she wondered whether they would be able to provide a good treatment in the depths and darkness of the bunkers…

"I cannot believe this!" Alice cried out, furious at the situation- "They wanted to hit us while we sleep! _I hate the Southern Isles!"_

Alice helped to wrap Anna in the warm sheets as Kristoff carried her with great care, even more artillery explosions illuminated the dark sky and now the characteristic smell of smoke and high explosives filled the air.

The impacts were getting closer, and finally the first shell reached the Sammel Line and its terrible explosion devastated a field hospital completely…

"Anna, we are almost there!" Kristoff said, particles of snow and ice raining all around them.

"Kristoff, my backpack!"

"I have it here, with the ice mirror and everything" Kristoff replied- "Close your eyes! The bunkers are strong, we shall be safe down there…"

The last thing that Anna could see before closing her eyes was a group of soldiers emerging from a trench, all of them making a great effort to lift a Cracker and take it to the safety of a bunker nearby…

She could hear nearby explosions as even more shells began to arrive, and hoped that by now most of her men were already safe very deep underground.

Would the bunkers turn out to be strong enough?

"Here we are!" Alice said, and an instant later Anna, not very surprised, could feel how they were descending a steep staircase very fast- "We have water, supplies, everything…"

Anna opened her eyes a minute later, discovering a rather small and circular room with a high ceiling and walls made of rock. It was dark, cold and the floor was nothing but wild ground, everything illuminated only by the light of a few candles…

"T-thank you, Kristoff…" Anna said, now lying on a straw bed- "Where is Alistair?"

"I don't know..."

The red-haired General finally showed up some time after that, he was coughing because of the acrid smoke that was everywhere outside and then the royal bunker was shaken as a heavy shell impacted nearby.

"You have to calm down" Anna whispered to herself, cuddled under her purple sheet at the middle of the straw bed- "We shall be fine, we shall survive…"

Kristoff sat on the ground and caressed her hair, realizing that Anna had started to shake.

"Anna..."

The candles eventually burned out, awful explosions continued in the world above and the royal bunker was plunged into the darkness…


	28. Seven Nights

**28- Seven Nights**

That awful night had been the start of a true disaster, just the beginning of the worst, hardest and most dramatic test that Arendelle's Army had ever experienced.

Anna would cry out in angst and fear every time that they heard a shell coming, and Kristoff would hurry to hug and protect her when the brutal explosion would come and shake the military bunkers a few seconds later…

The blasts were deafening and nightmarish even though they were a good depth under the surface, everyone could smell the smoke coming from outside, many cracks appeared on the stone walls of the bunker and the shellfire lasted for all night, all the morning and the entire day after that.

Shell after shell, just a terrifying explosion after another and no end in sight to this devastating attack…

Anna and Kristoff tried to get some sleep the second night, but it was futile… nobody would get any sleep until the nightmare would stop, but it just went on and on all night and then all day after that.

How was this possible? How could they have brought so many shells and guns all the way from the Southern Isles?

The third night underground came with even more artillery bombardment all over the Sammel Line, Anna and her friends remained trapped in the bunker like everyone else and then a well-known voice came from the interior of the backpack:

"Anna!" Elsa said, her voice worried and sad- _"Where the hell are you?"_

The Princess of Arendelle was sitting on a straw bed at that moment, wrapped in her purple sheet and rocking back and forth in a futile attempt to calm down. She grabbed the bag and drew out the Ice Mirror, hoping that a conversation with her sister would make her feel a little better…

"You just answered... your own question, Elsa…"

Elsa was at her personal bedroom at those moments, and she was shocked to see what her sister looked like: Anna's eyes seemed dead, lightless and mad, she was staring at her sister in a very disturbing way and her face had lost almost all color.

Anna looked sick as hell, and she was laughing in a way that surprised and freaked out Elsa at the same time…

"Where are you?" Elsa asked, confused as she looked at the dark interior of a bunker… the sound of a shell coming followed her question, and then a powerful explosion shook the underground refuge like an earthquake.

"T-this is our third n-night underground" Anna said, her shaky hands barely able to keep a hold on the ice mirror- "Elsa, they just keep firing, just… s-shells and more shells…"

Elsa finally understood why she had not received any news from the Front since her last conversation with her sister, why Anna had not returned to Northern Arendelle on schedule after all…

The Queen remained silent as she witnessed her sister crying and shaking every time that a shell would hit and explode nearby, it looked like Anna would not be able to resist for much longer, this was happening to the entire Army and nobody could know for how long the attack would continue.

"Anna, I am sending all of the reinforcement divisions!" Elsa cried out, shaking her own mirror- "The bunkers are strong, believe me, Anna… you have to resist!"

"I… I am not v-very sure if the bunkers can resist…"

"You have to listen to me… _Anna, listen to me!"_ Elsa continued- "The bunkers shall resist! They are depleting their entire reserves of artillery… _Anna!_ When this is over, take the Crackers out and prepare to open fire on some type of ground offensive…"

"Elsa… Elsa, _I am so scared…"_

"Anna, I love you…"

Elsa placed her right hand on her ice mirror, Anna raised her left hand, they looked into each other's eyes and for a few seconds the sisters tried to touch each other through the frozen surface of that gateway…

The window was closed at the precise moment when Elsa was breaking down in tears, and then Anna returned to the living hell of the Sammel bunkers under the heaviest and longest artillery attack that Arendelle had ever seen.

The third night passed, and then the fourth, and the fifth…

Anna would spend all the time cuddling at the darkest part of their underground hell, Kristoff would force her to have some bread and water and then, at last, the seventh night passed and the shellfire stopped at daybreak.

They waited for a long time just in case more shells would come, and finally Alistair and Alice ventured outside...


	29. Daylight

**29- Daylight**

Anna emerged from her royal bunker to discover a gray and white sky, an image of such unbelievable beauty that she had trouble to understand its nature at first… she blinked with surprise and protected her eyes with her hand, not sure why there was so much light.

The Princess of Arendelle had almost forgotten what daylight looked like, and for a few moments she almost forgot about her long imprisonment in the darkness below…

Anna enjoyed the blissful feeling of the freezing wind against her face, but when she looked around her heart and spirits collapsed once again: The campsites had been reduced to ruins and ash, the fires remained burning everywhere, every hospital had vanished and the trenches had disappeared as well.

Even the guns atop the hills were damaged, perhaps beyond repair… the great Sammel Line was now just a shadow of what it had been, and the Generals, Captains and soldiers seemed awestruck as they emerged from the bunkers everywhere.

"Anna, please let me support you" Kristoff said, holding her right arm as they walked together on the snow- "Do you feel any better?"

Anna remained in silence for some time, just looking all around at the devastation caused by the artillery attack. Kristoff thought for awhile that the Princess was affected by this view, but Anna's blue eyes began to lose that weird, unnatural stare and clearly some life was returning to them…

"My sister said that they might send a ground offensive, when the shellfire was over" Anna said, looking up at Kristoff- "She said, _take the Crackers out and prepare to open fire…"_

"Why would they do that?" Kristoff asked, surprised- "They must think that we are all dead, that our bunkers were destroyed…"

Anna and Kristoff came to a halt beside the remains of a field hospital, a ravaged trench was nearby and they looked together towards the South across the valley. The landscape was beautiful and snowy, but Anna knew that this charming scenery concealed the danger that would come…

"Exactly" Anna replied, holding Kristoff's hand- "What if we were truly decimated? Just a few survivors trying to rescue the remains of fallen comrades… What would you do if you were Hans and you believed that?"

"I would… send a great offensive to finish us off…" Kristoff said- "Elsa was right, we need to get ready as soon as possible!"

"General Alistair!" Anna called, her voice already better by now.

Alistair was coordinating the evacuation of casualties from one of the medical bunkers, but he turned his head at the sound of Anna's voice and soon enough he joined her and Kristoff.

"Your Highness…"

"I want all of our Crackers pointing at the valley, and ready to open fire" Anna explained without emotions, colder than the snow all around them- "We are expecting an enemy offensive any moment…"

"Yes, your Highness!"

Alistair dashed to inform the other commanders, many riders were sent immediately to spread Anna's orders and very soon the soldiers, dazzled by daylight but ready to fight, began to take the mysterious Cracker guns out of the bunkers.

All of the Crackers had been saved from the attack, and Anna smiled as she witnessed how one of those mysterious guns was cleaned and installed not far from her. The heavy machine was carried by three men and set on a tripod, and then Alice came dashing and carrying something that Anna had never seen before.

"Here, Kristoff!"

It was like a long strip of bullets all connected to each other, the projectiles were aligned side by side ready to be fired and Kristoff, alarmed by what they were doing, connected this strange form of ammunition to the left side of the Cracker…

"Let them attack us" Alice gasped, looking into Anna's eyes- "I really want them to come, your Highness…"

"Alice, do you feel alright?"

Anna had noticed that Alice's eyes looked a little mad and strange, not to mention that her voice was harsh and her hands were shaking in a quite unusual way…

"I am... not sure… and you?"

Anna would not reply, and instead she just looked at the wintry valley thinking of her enemies. She already had some ideas about what the Crackers would do, and began to understand why Elsa had wanted them to use these weapons at precisely the right moment.

"What are you waiting for, Hans?"

The five hundred Crackers were ready to defend the ravaged but defiant Sammel Line, and at those very moments the armies of the Southern Isles were getting ready to attack…


	30. Arendelle's Secret

**30- Arendelle's Secret**

The snowy fields of the valley were lashed by a terribly cold wind, the snow was falling from a frozen gray sky, everything seemed peaceful and finally the most respected Generals of the Southern Isles Army emerged from the War Council.

All of them carried long sabers ready in their hands, and their elegant red cloaks were rippling in the cruel and freezing wind…

They abandoned the campsites together, and after that they advanced with great pride between the lines formed by the great horses and riders that were ready to charge against Arendelle's devastated Sammel Line.

This was the final offensive, the moment to finish off Anna and her army so the Southern Isles forces could invade the rest of Arendelle…

The twelve Generals reached their white horses at the very head of the cavalry armies, they mounted in a coordinated fashion and they looked around at the forces that were under their command, raising the sharp sabers high above their heads.

"All men ready!" screamed the tallest of the Generals, a fearsome man of long brown hair and mysterious blue eyes- "You know the orders! We shall end this offensive once and for all… We'll have no mercy on them!"

The armies replied by raising their own sabers between wild cries of battle, everyone ready to fight for the Southern Isles and King Hans...

"For the Southern Isles!" the General cried out, his powerful voice taken by the wind- _"Chaaaarge!"_

Then it happened, and it was a truly fearsome view:

Thirteen thousand horses and courageous men rode out into the snowstorm like a nightmare, the ground began to shake and particles of ice and snow were flying everywhere between the countless red cloaks…

The battle cries became a deafening growl, for this was the largest and most fearsome cavalry offensive ever seen in the lands of the North.

The proud riders had no fear, they rode as fast as possible against the snow and the wind, very soon they had crossed the center of the valley and then the Arendellian sentinels atop the hills discovered them at last...

"They are coming!" the voices cried out all over the Line, giving the alarm just in time- "Get ready to open fire! They are coming! _"They are coming!"_

"Alice!" Anna screamed, dashing on her way to her Cracker position- "Kristoff!"

Anna stationed herself to the left side of the machine gun, ready to do her part by feeding the ammunition strips to the Cracker. Kristoff came a few seconds later wearing a wide purple cloak, and he immediately took his position behind the intriguing and mysterious weapon.

"This is the moment of vengeance, Kristoff!" Anna said, patting the Cracker with a rather dark enthusiasm- "Are you ready?"

"I think so…"

Alice came to the front lines as fast as she could, carrying multiple strips of Cracker ammunition and quickly taking her position beside a nearby machine gun. Alistair came out of nowhere and followed his daughter, eager to finally display Arendelle's most powerful weapons in battle.

Anna was not surprised to discover a look of rage and blood-thirst in Alistair's eyes, for she knew that her best General had been waiting for this moment for a very long time...

"We are ready to give them Hell, your Highness!" Alistair screamed, his right hand ready at the trigger of the weapon- "Your Cracker shall be the first to open fire, and then… _everyone else follows!"_

Hundreds of other Cracker teams were loading their machine guns at those very moments, all of them aiming at the valley and waiting for the enemy forces to become visible between the snow and the wind…

Everyone knew that they had to wait for them to get really close to the Sammel Line, every team had received orders to let Anna be the first to open fire as the signal to attack and now five hundred fingers were ready on the triggers.

"Wait, Kristoff…" Anna said, her voice shaky with excitement- "Wait…"

Anna's blue eyes were trying to pierce through the snowy wind, trying to discover anything red in the frozen whiteness of the wintry landscape… time was passing and the seconds felt like minutes, then she heard battle cries and it happened at last:

The huge Cavalry armies appeared between the snow like an image from a nightmare, thousands and thousands of horses and red-cloaked riders charging with cold fury and sabers in their hands…

"Anna…" Kristoff said, his finger shaking against the trigger- _"Come on!"_

"Wait, they have to get closer" Anna replied, a wicked smile slowly forming on her face- "Kristoff, just wait a little more…"

_"Anna…"_

Anna suddenly discovered a look of shock and surprise in the face of the enemy commander, she saw fear in those blue eyes, they had seen the Crackers… Now it was too late for all of them, and the Princess of Arendelle gave the awaited order at last:

_"Now, Open Fire!"_


	31. Vengeance

**31- Vengeance**

Kristoff pulled the trigger, and the macabre sound that followed was unlike anything that Anna had ever heard before… it was a loud and repetitive noise that she would have never imagined in any of her war nightmares, much louder than any musket in the world.

_"Crack-Crack-Crack!"_ The sound would come and repeat itself four times every second, for as long as the trigger remained active- _"Crack-Crack-Crack! Crack!"_

Anna finally understood why these weapons were called Crackers, witnessing in awestruck silence as the machine gun vomited fire and bullets at the enemy with an unbelievable speed…

_Crack Crack Crack! Crack Crack Crack Crack!_

Alistair opened fire a second after Kristoff, then the rest of the guns followed, the growl of the five hundred Crackers attacking together reached deafening levels and the effect on the Cavalry forces of the enemy was immediate and dramatic:

Anna gasped as twelve riders and their horses collapsed just like that, twenty more followed, the riders were getting multiple hits to their chest and heads and their blood was flying between the snow and the wind…

Kristoff began to move the machine gun from left to right in order to spray death as widely as possible, and very soon he was screaming in fury like a monster out of control. Anna was as quick as she could to feed the strips of ammunition, discovering that she was barely able to keep up with the dramatic speed of fire.

_Crack Crack Crack Crack! Crack Crack Crack!_

The first lines of the Southern Isles Cavalry were quickly reduced to hundreds and then thousands of cadavers of men and horses alike, all piled on top of each other on the white and red snow…

"Go back! Go back!" screamed one of the few surviving Generals, his voice shaking with fright- _"Get the hell out of here!"_

Most of the riders that advanced behind realized the danger and tried to escape, but they were simply too close to the Arendellian defenses and they were no match for the sheer speed and devastating firepower of the machine guns.

Alistair was screaming wildly just like Kristoff, they kept moving the Crackers from one side to the other on their tripods, all of the other teams were also spraying bullets as widely as they could and Anna did nothing to stop them, even though the enemy forces were now engaged in a desperate and terrified retreat…

The same cruelty and darkness that had captured her heart that foggy morning had returned with even more strength, and now all that Anna wanted was to annihilate all of those riders and win the war once and for all.

Anna would feed a strip of ammunition after another to the Cracker, and then another, and yet another…

_Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack!_

Thousands of the surviving riders were getting killed from behind while they tried to escape, they had nowhere to go, the blood was flying everywhere and the cries of agony of men and horses combined were taken like surreal laments by the wind.

Anna and her friends did not know exactly for how long they had been shooting, but the Crackers soon began to overheat and the nightmarish defense came to a gradual halt all over the Sammel Line…

"Kristoff!" Anna cried, shaking her boyfriend and looking right into his eyes- "Kristoff, calm down, it's over! _It's over!"_

It took some time for Kristoff to escape from the wild side, but eventually his right hand abandoned the trigger and he hugged Anna like they had not seen each other for a year. The intensity of what had just happened made them both shake and cry, still unable to believe what they had done…

"Anna, we did it…"

The wild cheers of celebration soon erupted everywhere, Alistair began to scream like a madman as he waved his fists through the air and Alice was crying out of control, but Anna and Kristoff remained hugging in silence for a long time after that.

Anna stood up at last and she looked at the valley, shaken to discover the intensely red snow and corpses lying everywhere as far as she could see...

Arendelle had just annihilated an extremely powerful Cavalry charge, the damage inflicted to their enemy was surely catastrophic and most likely the war was over already, but still the immensity of the massacre was overwhelming and Anna remained frozen on the spot trying to understand what they had done.

Thirteen thousand men and their horses had just been wiped out of the face of the world, it had been too much, the Arendelle War had gone too far…

"Elsa" Anna whispered, shocked to smell all that blood and death in the air- "What would you say if you could see this? Was this really what you wanted? For all the Heavens… _What have we done…?"_


	32. Shell Shock

**32- Shell Shock**

The celebrations continued for awhile at the Arendellian positions, most of the Generals could not believe just how effective the Crackers had been and many soldiers remained awestruck, relieved to think that this would put an end to the war.

Everything seemed perfect, but soon the reality of war returned in a dark form that nobody had ever seen before…

Anna had already noticed that something in Alice was not alright, but then it started happening to many others as the day advanced… the medical staff was called to action, but sadly they soon informed the Princess that there was little they could do.

"What is this?" Anna asked, standing between a doctor and a nurse- "What happened to her? We must try to do something!"

They were inside of the new field hospital, which was composed by a large and white tent equipped with the scarce medical equipment that they could save from the artillery attack. The place was full of injured soldiers of all ages, but curiously, there were no wounds to apply medicines on…

This was a very different kind of damage, one that the medical profession had never seen before.

"Your Highness, we are not sure what to do" the doctor replied, analyzing Alice's eyes with great attention- "She is not hurt, they are not really injured… This must be a psychological disturbance of some kind, caused by the bombardment!"

Alice was sitting on a bed, and she looked really scared as the medical staff tried to diagnose whatever her condition would turn out to be. Her beautiful green eyes had acquired a weird stare of fear and alarm, her hands were shaking violently and her left leg was jerking and twitching out of control.

The young woman was unable to walk, her speech had become rather twisted and the same was happening to hundreds of other troops at the Front…

"Anna" Alice gasped, looking up at the Princess- "W-what is happen… what… is happening to me?"

"Alice, something similar happened to me when we were at the bunker, especially the third night… but it passed" Anna replied, her hands resting on Alice's shoulders- "Tell me, did this trouble start during those nights?"

"I am not s-sure" Alice said, tears sliding down her face- "I thin… I think so…"

General Alistair came dashing into the field hospital at those moments, desperate to see what was happening to his daughter. Alice managed to produce a little smile at the sight of her father, but then her anxiety returned and her hands began to shake even worse than before.

"Alice! What is happening? _What is this?!"_

"Some type of psychological shock induced by the shellfire" Anna said with great sadness, holding one of Alice's hands- "Alice, you'll be alright! General Alistair, please proceed to evacuate her and everyone else back to the North!"

"Yes, your Highness…"

Anna allowed her favorite General some time to comfort his daughter, and meanwhile she decided to abandon the field hospital and start to coordinate the evacuation herself.

The Princess discovered that yet another snowstorm had started while she had been attending Alice, now the wind was even wilder and the troops had started to group together around great campfires…

What was this shell shock disease? How could they treat it, which means... in case that it was treatable after all?

Anna's green cloak was rippling in the wind as she witnessed even more of her shell shocked soldiers being taken to the hospital, where the doctors would tell them anyway that nothing could be done except to send them back home.

The seven nights bombardment had done more damage to her army than she had thought at first, the trenches were gone and the Sammel Line was ruined, but at least the Crackers had decided everything already and now all they had to do was to stand on guard and wait for the enemy to abandon Arendelle forever...

Anna was lost in her thoughts as she tried to decide how many troops should leave and how many others were needed to stay, and then Kristoff came dashing like a boulder through the wild and snowy wind.

The iceman carried Anna's magical mirror between his gloved hands, a soft white light emanating from the gateway...

"Anna, your sister is calling!" Kristoff said, coming to a halt as Anna advanced towards him- "Wait a second your Majesty, here she is!"

"Anna! Are you there?"


	33. I shall Stay

**33- I shall Stay**

"Hello, Elsa" Anna said, her voice cold and sad- "I was wishing that you would call today, since there have been new… developments."

Anna was not surprised to discover that Elsa was commanding yet another War Council, but this time the windows of the small and secret room provided her a view of something strange that she had not been expecting:

There was snow falling at the other side of the crystals, the wind looked strong and it seemed that the windowsills were covered by frost…

"First of all, I am glad that you are back at the surface" Elsa said, looking quite relieved that the artillery attack had ended at last- "Anna, what happened? We are sure that Hans will try another ground offensive, and…"

"Yeah, he did precisely that less than an hour after the shellfire was over" Anna replied, displaying a soft smile- "We did what you wanted! We used the Crackers, Elsa… I have no idea how many riders and horses we just killed, but the valley is littered by corpses and blood as far as I can see…"

Elsa screamed and cheered with great enthusiasm, the Council Generals behind her exploded in celebrations and applause and Anna remained silent, not really sure that she would ever understand why such a nightmarish massacre had become a cause to rejoice.

"Anna… are you alright?"

The Queen had realized that her sister seemed distant, emotionless and cold, like she was not the same anymore… the once fearful Anna had been replaced by a piece of ice, and her former light and happiness were nowhere to be found in those frozen blue eyes.

"I am… Elsa, why do you have snow and frost at Northern Arendelle too?"

Elsa sighed, she seemed to be thinking what would be the best way to explain the situation and it took some time before she would speak once again:

"It seems that I got carried away in my efforts to freeze the South, Anna… It started snowing everywhere two days ago" Elsa explained, looking a little disappointed with herself- "I can keep my Magic under control this time, but you can expect a little thawing in the following days…"

"We need the cold!"

"I'll send another snowstorm as soon as I can! Anyway, we have won the war already, Anna… Hans will not send even more men to their deaths, not now that he knows we have the Crackers."

"Fine" Anna replied coldly- "Elsa, I know you wanted me to return home as soon as possible, but… I have decided that I shall stay down here until the war is really over, until the last of them abandons Arendelle to never come back…"

Elsa looked very sad to hear those words, and it was clear that she had been just about to ask Anna to return to the Palace…

The Queen thought that it was pointless for Anna to remain at the Front now that the Crackers had crushed the Southern Isles Army, she was sure that Hans would surrender any moment, Alistair could take the command now and all that she wanted was to have her little sister back home.

However, Elsa knew that Anna would stay firm in her decision and there was no way to make her change her mind…

"Fine, Anna… I understand."

"Elsa, some type of disease is affecting our troops" Anna said, straight to the point- "We don't know how it works, but the doctors believe it must be a psychological shock caused by everything that has been happening around here…"

"What? How many are affected?"

"We are not sure, not less than two thousand cases so far… I am evacuating them out of here, most of our army will return home with them so please get ready to receive everyone, alright? I'll keep enough troops with me to repel more offensives, just in case Hans is mad enough to attack us again."

"Anna! Wait, you cannot do that, do not weaken our positions!"

"Good bye, Elsa…"

Anna lowered the ice mirror, Elsa was just about to scream something and then the gateway was closed… Kristoff remained in silence beside her, quite surprised and unable to believe just how cold and distant Anna had been to her sister.

"Anna, what was all of that about?"

The Princess of Arendelle walked away without another word, she wrapped herself in her green cloak and Kristoff witnessed in silence as Anna vanished like a ghost between the snow…


	34. The True Enemy

**34- The True Enemy**

It was a night of mourning and horror for the Southern Isles Army, an hour after another of stupefaction, denial and absolute despair… it was the night when they finally understood, and accepted, that the invasion of Arendelle had been the worst idea in the long history of their Kingdom.

The shock as everyone realized that thirteen thousand of their friends had been annihilated like grass in the fire was almost too hard to endure, mitigated only by the religious rituals and homage ceremonies celebrated that day…

Arendelle had Crackers, those guns were the most advanced weapon in the world and there would be no way to cross their defenses!

There was no reason to fight anymore, no reason to move forward…

The sudden loss of their entire Cavalry forces broke the spirits and the morale of the army, and very soon something that would have been unthinkable a few days ago started to happen at every campsite of the invaders:

The soldiers and artillery men began to abandon their duties everywhere, they were joined by most of the Captains and even a few of the surviving Generals proceeded to forsake the Army as well.

It was incredible to see the medical staff evacuating the injured men with the assistance of the soldiers, they took the few horses that remained alive and after that everyone abandoned the valley and began marching on their way back to Tannya…

The Army wanted nothing but to see the coast again, board the ships, forget all the nightmare and sail the long travel back home.

It proved impossible even for the King himself to convince the demoralized troops to return, thousands disappeared into the snowy forests and Hans was left only with a handful of his most trusted Generals, no horses at all and a few Infantry divisions that remained loyal to him.

"Your Majesty, the war is over!" said one of the few Generals that remained alive, a short and stubby man of long hair- "They have Crackers, hundreds of Crackers… Why don't you understand? _We are no match for them!"_

Hans and his four remaining Generals were gathered behind the now abandoned trenches and campsites of the Southern Isles lines, where they had made a last attempt to stop the rest of the army from vanishing into the forest nearby.

They were shivering in cold, nothing to protect them from the wind apart from their cloaks...

"We cannot abandon the war now!" Hans replied, screaming to the sky and the wind- "This is not over, Anna and Elsa shall pay for what they did to us!"

The night was dark and freezing, though perhaps not as cold as many other nights had been, and the defeated King Hans tried to remain proud and defiant as he carried a sword in his hand and the golden crown on top of his head…

"Thirty thousand men are dead!" the small General cried out, staring at the King and losing control of himself- "The enemy is equipped with the most deadly weapon that the world has ever seen, our army has abandoned us because they are starving and freezing, we have no more horses… _and you still want to fight?!"_

The other three Generals remained in silence as their friend tried to convince the King to abandon the invasion once and for all, not sure what to say since a part of them really wanted to leave while the other part desired to stay.

After all, not all of the soldiers had abandoned them and they still had a weapon of last resource to display against Anna and her army…

"We still have three divisions, General Cornellian" Hans said, wrapped in his long and elegant cloak- "Five thousand men! Also, may I remind you that we have brought a secret weapon of our own? You know what it is, and our enemy at the other side of this damn valley has no idea about its existence!"

There was a long and awkward silence after those words.

All of them knew what the King was talking about, because they had heard the rumors about the weapon and they had seen the metal canisters aboard the ships during their travel from the Southern Isles…

The Generals had not been expecting to use the secret weapon, but after all they had it and this seemed to be the perfect moment to display it.

"Your Majesty, we cannot…" Cornellian said, his eyes full of fear.

"The Green Death" Hans said, walking on the snow all around the others- "The rumors are true, gentlemen, we have the Green Death and I am willing to use it! You can be sure that it was not my intention, but Anna has given me no choice…"

"No!" Cornellian gasped, advancing one step towards Hans- "Your Majesty, if we do that every Kingdom in the world will hate the Southern Isles! We'll be treated as monsters, nobody will want to trade with us!"

The other Generals seemed to be alarmed as well at the idea of using the Green Death, but the effect that the idea had on their delirious King was precisely the opposite:

"Just imagine, my friends!" Hans exclaimed, raising the sword high above his head- "Arendelle's army destroyed by our legendary weapon! The Southern Isles triumphant! The Snow Queen surrendering at our feet!"

"I cannot believe it" Cornellian said, looking around at all the others- "This war has ruined our country for generations to come, and now you are talking about this imaginary success of yours… _We have followed a madman right into a calamity!"_

Hans turned around to face Cornellian, the others remained in silence and for a few seconds both men stared intensely into each other's eyes…

_"I dare you to say that to me again…"_

"We have a true enemy, but it's not Arendelle… _It's you!"_

Cornellian drew out his saber and charged at Hans with great fury, but the King had been expecting this to happen and the cooler head gave him a decisive advantage:

Hans evaded the slashing attack, he turned on the stop delivering a terrible cut at Cornellian's leg, the General fell to the snowy ground and the others just watched while the King landed an accurate and fatal stab to the heart…

It was over, the last voice of reason was gone and now nothing would stop Hans of the Southern Isles from carrying on with the maddest adventure that the world had ever seen.

_"Now, prepare the Green Death!"_


	35. Arendelle Town

**35- Arendelle Town**

Anna evacuated all of the shell shock casualties as soon as was possible, she made sure that Alice in particular would receive the best treatment and also, going against her sister's direct orders, she proceeded to send most of her healthy troops back home to protect them from another offensive.

Alistair was in charge of leading the twelve thousand troops through the forests and fjords on their long travel to the North, while Anna remained at the Front commanding the two thousand men that had volunteered to be part of the final guard beside her.

The Princess of Arendelle was sure that she only needed one division to remain at the Line and use the Crackers again in case it was necessary, and then, just two days after the others had departed, the sentinels atop the hills informed her of what she had been wishing to hear all that time:

The Southern Isles positions looked abandoned, there were no horses anywhere and only a small fraction of the enemy armies remained at Arendelle…

Anna was delighted to imagine that Hans had faced a massive mutiny of his troops, which had been caused no doubt by the devastating damage and destruction they had suffered, and now she could be sure that the war was won for good.

The weather was getting warmer with every day that passed, not so freezing anymore despite the fact that the valley remained covered by snow…

Sadly, the mysterious metal canisters that were being arranged at the other side of the valley were too small for Anna's sentinels to notice… time was passing without another attack, and finally the largest part of the Army arrived at Arendelle Town.

"Please, bring them all to the Palace, we have transformed it into a hospital" Queen Elsa called out to her medical staff, trying to organize the reception and care of the injured men- "The Gallery, Throne Room and Armory are attending the worst cases… _General Alistair!"_

It was a cold but beautiful day at Arendelle Town, the wind was soft and only a little of snow remained here and there on the streets. The sky was blue and clear, and that morning hundreds of doctors, nurses and even common people from distant villages had showed up as volunteers to receive and attend the troops.

The view of soldiers without a leg, an arm, a missing eye or even worse things alarmed the medical staff and volunteers, but they seemed really awestruck at the sight of some of the worst cases of Shell Shock that Anna had sent back home…

The twitching legs, shaky hands and those mad, lifeless eyes were almost too disturbing for those that had never seen shell shock victims before, but the medical volunteers were courageous and very soon all of the casualties started to be taken for treatment inside of Arendelle Palace.

"Your Majesty" Alistair said, bowing with pride before the Queen- "It has been a difficult journey, but we have made it without any incidents… Princess Anna sends you her greetings, saying that she hopes to come back home within two or three weeks."

"Please tell me, Alistair… how is my sister?" Elsa asked, holding one of the General's hands between both of hers- "The last time that I talked to her, she seemed… I don't know, like she is just not the same Anna anymore…"

Elsa and Alistair stood together at the middle of the Fountains Square, which had become a very agitated place as the medical workers tried to find and select the cases that needed the most immediate treatment.

There were stretchers, medicines and bandages ready to be applied, and meanwhile even more troops began to arrive at the outskirts of the Town...

"Anna is an incredible commander, and a powerful fighter as well" Alistair replied, speaking with great pride about the woman he had known for the past few weeks- "Your Majesty, the Princess has been deeply affected by the war, like the rest of us, but I am sure that you shall have your sister back when all of this comes to an end."

"Thank you…"

The tired but cheerful soldiers were being reunited with their families everywhere, those that were injured looked delighted to find themselves back home, wives and children cried of happiness and Elsa, looking all around her, began to understand why Anna had decided to disobey her direct orders after all.

Anna had done the right thing, but still the Queen remained worried about the weakened defenses that her sister commanded down there at the Front…

"I know what you are thinking" Alistair said- "Your Majesty, I understand your fears but you have never seen the Crackers in action… Believe me, Anna and the rest of our army shall remain safe and sound."

"Please follow me Alistair, we have loads to talk about…"

Elsa dashed into the Palace followed by Alistair, a special gathering of the War Council was ready to receive the experienced General and meanwhile, back at the Sammel Line, Anna and her troops had no idea about the danger that they would face that day...


	36. Whispers of the Wind

**36- Whispers of the Wind**

Anna of Arendelle was feeling particularly peaceful that day, enjoying a level of solitude and silence that she would have never imagined during the seven nights that they had been trapped underground…

The valley seemed impossibly calm now that the offensives had ended, twelve days had passed since the departure of most of her army, the few enemies that remained at the other side had been quiet all that time and even the wild animals were returning to the snowy battlefield.

Anna discovered reindeers and foxes as she rode a white horse not far from the Cracker positions, the eagles were flying high above the forests and there were hundreds of ravens playing in the snow…

"I wish I could turn into a raven" Anna whispered, admiring the elegant beauty of those mischievous black birds- "I would just fly to the sky, and never think of the war ever again…"

The ravens really seemed to be having fun, perhaps wondering why they could enjoy a frozen Winter in the middle of Summer… the reindeers were crossing the valley as they descended from the mountains of the East, everything looked peaceful and Anna found it hard to believe that she remained at the Front.

It just didn't look like a war theater anymore, except for the fact that thousands of cadavers remained frozen and buried by the snow…

Anna continued to ride alone for some time, always careful to not venture too far towards enemy lines, and then a voice that she knew very well came from somewhere nearby:

"Anna! Come back, they could send Scouts or something again!"

Kristoff came riding a brown horse towards her, wearing a white cloak as camouflage and looking rather worried to discover that Anna had ventured beyond the Cracker lines once again.

This was the fourth time that the Princess was doing this, everyone thought that it was incredibly dangerous and on top of everything, not happy with riding alone in a war zone, Anna was wearing her military green cloak instead of something white that would help to camouflage her in the snowy fields…

"I just wanted to enjoy the whispers of the wind…" Anna said, stopping her horse and turning around to face Kristoff- "Any news from the sentinels, Kristoff?"

"Nothing, just like yesterday... and the day before that… and the day before that…"

"I guess these peaceful days are good news, anyway" Anna said, looking up at the sky- "Please remind me to call my sister tonight, Kristoff… I'll say _Nothing unusual, Elsa! All Frozen on the Arendelle Front…"_

"That sounds great!" Kristoff replied- "It should be the name of a book about this war, maybe you could write it someday…"

Anna laughed, Kristoff took some time to admire the reindeers, everything was perfect… then the terrible danger gave them the first warning, and it was a sudden and violent smell that had filled the freezing air all around them.

It was an awful, rotten and burning smell that they would have no words to describe, they both suffered a corrosive sensation in their noses and eyes and then, very alarmed, Anna turned her head towards the South and discovered that an eerie green fog was advancing quickly towards them.

_"What the hell is that?!"_

Anna started to gasp, her lungs were hurting already and a few seconds later she started to cough drops of blood…

They witnessed in horror as the reindeers began to escape and collapse while the green fog advanced, the ravens flew the hell out of there as fast as they could, the smell soon became unbearable and Anna's heart was frozen by fear as they finally understood that this was a chemical attack.

The wind was taking this poisonous fog right towards the Arendellian positions, and then Anna and Kristoff, knowing that every second was precious, turned their horses around and dashed to alert everyone else as fast as they could.

"Gas! Gas!" Kristoff screamed, hoping against all possibilities that somebody would listen to the warning- _"Gas is coming!_ Gas! Gaaaas!"

_"Faster, Kristoff!"_

Anna discovered the smell of her own blood as she coughed and gasped, knowing that these could very well be the last moments of her life...


	37. Green Death

**37- Green Death**

The wind continued to take the deadly poison straight towards the North, where the sleepy Arendellian soldiers had just emerged from the bunkers and began to prepare breakfast before starting yet another day of guard.

Sadly, it so happened that the snow and the natural fog had concealed the green cloud from view until it was too late…

Anna and Kristoff had almost arrived at the Cracker lines by the time when the first sentinels and soldiers discovered the danger, and then they could finally hear the warnings that Kristoff kept screaming as loudly as he could:

"Poison gas coming! Poison gas! _Gaaaaas!"_

General Matthew dropped his bread and tea as he discovered the green cloud, which looked wide and vast enough to cover most of the Sammel Line… the sentinels dashed to their positions, and a few seconds later the powerful ringing of the bells alerted everyone as the terrified voices cried to the sky:

_"Gaaas! Gas! Poison gas!"_

Anna and Kristoff finally passed the Cracker lines and continued to ride as fast as their horses could go, both of them coughing and gasping for air… Anna could not even scream to order a general retreat, but it turned out that everyone already knew what exactly to do.

The terror became rampant, the awful smell soon invaded everything and Anna could do nothing as she witnessed how hundreds and then thousands of Arendellian troops dropped their weapons and broke lines.

All of them dashed towards the North trying to find higher ground, but then the green cloud arrived and an instant later death had grabbed them by the throat…

The soldiers cried out in terror, it looked like they were strangling themselves in a vain attempt to keep the poison out of their lungs and they started to fall everywhere like insects, their skin darkening as they collapsed and coughed great amounts of blood.

Anna's riding speed gave her an important advantage, it seemed that she was a few yards ahead of the lethal concentration and Kristoff would be relatively safe too, but the wind remained strong and they witnessed in terror as the troops were getting killed drove after drove…

It was awful to see how some of the men tried to cover their mouths and noses as they died, the eyes of the fallen would freeze into a glassy, lifeless stare and many others would go into convulsions and pass away after a few seconds of agony unspeakable.

The chemical demon was everywhere, catching even the few men that had reached the artillery hills thinking that the higher ground would save their lives…

Anna was sure that she was just seconds away from death, knowing that her horse could trip with something or simply fall victim to the poison any moment… her lungs were in fire, she felt that her eyes were burning too and she had never been so scared in her life, totally unable to believe what was happening around her.

Matthew and many others were riding not far from Anna and Kristoff, every second of terror would seem endless and then the wind began to lose strength…

The green cloud slowed down at last, it came to a halt and then it started to disperse, but the poison had covered the entire Arendellian positions and caused death and destruction in a frightening scale.

Anna managed to escape into the Forest of Snowhall followed by Kristoff, Matthew and a few other survivors, leaving behind over two thousand fatal casualties and the now open and undefended Sammel Line…

The cold and clean air of the forest felt like an unimaginable blessing after escaping from the green death, but still everyone wanted to get as far from the poison as possible and they continued to ride for a long time after that.

"Elsa" Anna thought, gasping and coughing up blood- "Elsa, what are we going to do...?"

Hans and his armies would soon advance to cross the Arendellian lines at last, the Ice Mirror had been left behind and Anna had no way to inform her sister about this nightmarish disaster.

Anna ordered a halt after what seemed like several hours of riding, they had arrived at a beautiful clearing in the forest and there, still shaking in sheer terror, the small group of survivors let themselves fall on the snow and gasped for clean air looking up at the white sky...


	38. Stay with Me

**38- Stay with Me**

The forest clearing was a safe position very far from the Line, the wintry air was clean and all day had passed since the chemical attack, and yet that awful and corrosive smell remained strong coming from their clothing, the horses and also impregnating every gasp and cough of the Princess…

"Anna!" Kristoff cried out, kneeling on the snow beside his girlfriend and looking right into her eyes- "Anna! Come back! _Stay with me, Anna!"_

"Kristoff, I am so scared…"

The seventy three survivors of the chemical attack had recovered well enough to set up a small campsite, already building refuges with fallen branches of the trees and also igniting some comforting campfires.

About half of them had managed to take their muskets and ammunition as they escaped, they were not disarmed after all but safety was the least of their concerns at those moments…

"You have to take command now" Anna whispered, holding one of Kristoff's hands- "Kristoff, I am not going to make it…"

Anna remained resting on the snow, crying and gasping as she fought to draw air into her ravaged lungs. The pain was strong, like she had fire inside of her, and she continued to cough blood knowing that she could suffocate to death any moment…

"You cannot order that to me!" Kristoff screamed, shocked to realize that her death was a real possibility- "Anna, stay with me! You cannot leave us!"

Kristoff, Matthew and everyone else were heartbroken as they witnessed Anna's slow and painful suffering, she was the sickest of them all and even worse was the fact that they could not do anything to help her…

Anna's condition was deteriorating with every hour that passed, there were no doctors among them and even the fastest travel to Arendelle Town would take several days. The horses that they had were affected by the poison as well, all of them were sick and on top of everything the ice mirror was lost.

They were stranded at Snowhall, all of the worst possible things had happened together and it seemed that there would be no way to save the courageous Princess…

"They have the Crackers now" Anna continued, her voice as burned as her lungs- "You must abandon me here, Kristoff! Command this group, and make your best effort to reach the Palace as soon as you can… Alert my sister, please!"

Kristoff had no idea what to reply to those words, frozen on the spot at the mere idea of abandoning Anna to die alone in that forest… Anna looked into those brown eyes waiting for an answer, but Kristoff would not reply and then Matthew came and kneeled on the snow beside the Iceman.

"Your Highness, it's true that they are going to take our Crackers" the old General said, holding her left hand- "However, that does not mean that they can use them against us! The green fog, whatever it was, must have corroded the guns from inside… They are ruined!"

"What do you mean?" Anna asked, turning her head to look at him.

"The war is not lost! We have reserve divisions and even more Crackers at the North, and we are not going to abandon you here no matter how many times you order us to do that!"

The gasping, coughing Anna managed to produce a soft smile as she imagined how frustrated Hans would be to discover that the Crackers were ruined, Kristoff started to caress her hair, Matthew sighed and then a large creature suddenly came into the clearing…

"A reindeer!" a soldier screamed, standing beside one of the campfires- "Quick, shoot it before it escapes!"

The other soldiers scrambled to form a circle around the reindeer, which seemed very surprised to find itself suddenly surrounded by men… Matthew grabbed his musket ready to kill a good dinner for that night, and then Kristoff realized that he was very familiar with this reindeer in particular.

"Wait! _Wait, everyone!"_ Kristoff cried out, dashing towards them- "That's my reindeer, I know him! That's my Sven!"

_"S-sven…?"_ Anna gasped, unable to believe it.

The reindeer really was Sven, which was confirmed when he greeted Kristoff with great affection just like a dog would do. It seemed that Sven had been unable to keep waiting for Kristoff and Anna to return, and decided that it would be a good idea to go looking for them all by himself.

"What are you doing here?" Kristoff said, patting Sven with affection- "I told you that war was very dangerous, I told you to stay!"

Sven was intelligent enough to realize that something really bad had happened to his friends, the chemical smell was very intense for him and then he advanced slowly towards Anna, clearly worried about her…

"Hello, Sven…" Anna said, smiling at her favorite beast- "It's great to see you!"

It was very surprising for everyone to see this reindeer caring for Anna, Sven looked sad and then Kristoff, all of a sudden, had one of the brightest ideas of his life:

"Matthew, give me a hand!"

Kristoff and Matthew joined forces to lift Anna with great care, Sven was surprised and the next thing that Anna knew was that she was mounting on the reindeer. Anna felt too weak to ride or even steady herself, and she was just about to ask Kristoff what he was trying to do when she finally grasped the idea.

"I cannot do it, I am going to fall!"

"Wait, I have a rope in my backpack!" Matthew said.

Anna steadied herself as best as she could, she grasped Sven's neck from behind with both of her arms and very soon Kristoff, alarmed at his own desperate plan, used the rope to tie his girlfriend to the reindeer's strong and furry body.

It looked like Anna would not fall, the scene would have made everyone laugh if they had not been at war and then Kristoff talked to Sven:

"My friend, I know you can understand me… Anna is very sick, and I need you to take her to Elsa! Sven, you know the fastest path, you can do it! Take Anna to Elsa… Take Anna to Elsa, Sven!"

Sven looked confused, but the smart reindeer was quick to understand what his friend was asking him to do…

"Take _Anna_ to _Elsa!_ Go, Sven! _Go!"_

"Kristoff, I love you…" Anna cried, they looked into each other's eyes and then Sven charged and abandoned that clearing taking Anna on his back.

It would be a long travel to Arendelle Town, but Anna knew that if anyone or anything was capable of taking her to Elsa on time, that would be the loyal Sven… she closed her eyes, and very soon both of them disappeared into the shadows of the forest.


	39. The Journey

**39- The Journey**

Sven followed a concealed and unknown path in order to reach Arendelle Town as soon as possible, sometimes climbing between rocks and other times crossing dangerous frozen lakes while carrying Anna on his back.

The reindeer would rarely take some time to get food and water, they had to escape from wolves three times and it was a harsh travel for Anna, to say the least…

She remained sickened and weak, gasping for air and fearing all the time that she would suffocate to death any moment. The normal hunger that any person would feel transformed into starvation as the days were passing, and very soon she developed a terrible thirst.

It was true that the unnatural Winter created by Elsa was losing strength with every day that passed, but the nights remained very cold and Anna, tied hopelessly to Sven, would shiver for hours as they continued their journey through the forests and fjords…

The cold was so deep that Anna passed out from hypothermia two or three times every night, protected from death only by the body heat generated by Sven.

She just wished that the torture would end, that she would arrive back home and see Elsa again...

Anna would think of Kristoff, Matthew and the others that she had left behind, wondering what would happen to them without reinforcements and supplies.

She knew that her friends were relatively safe a good distance from Hans and his troops, but they were stranded anyway and by this point, for sure, the enemy forces would have started already their invasion towards the North.

Would Elsa have realized by now that something terrible had happened? How many men did Hans really have? Would they be able to stop the enemy forces before it was too late?

Anna realized that they were advancing faster than she had imagined it would be, soon the landscape became more familiar and finally they arrived at the Town one sleepy morning after four days of journey...

"Your highness!" Alistair cried out, dashing towards Anna and the reindeer followed by a few Guards of the Palace- _"What the hell?!"_

Sven had stopped at the Fountains Square not far from the entrance of the Palace, not sure what to do now that the journey was over. It was very early in the morning, the sky was clear and few people were already in the streets, a peaceful silence broken only by the birds and the soft whispers of the wind.

Anna opened her eyes to discover the fountains and the palace, she cried and sighed with a fantastic relief and the next thing she knew was that Alistair and the Guards were cutting the rope with their daggers…

"Princess Anna!"

"Hell… Hello, Alistair" Anna said, her voice harsh and barely able to produce any sound- "There was a poison… poison gas attack, fe-few survivors… The-they need help… We need to send the Army again… Tell my sister… _Fast!"_

Alistair took the half frozen Anna in his arms, and then the group dashed into the Palace and quickly crossed a hallway after another on their way to Elsa's bedroom… many of the servants and the medical staff were shocked to see the Princess, people were screaming and very soon they arrived at a large wooden door.

"Your Majesty!" Alistair screamed, trying to kick the door open- _"Queen Elsa!"_

The door was opened slowly by a sleepy-looking Elsa, the Queen was wearing one of her silvery nightgowns and her blue eyes opened widely in shock as she realized who it was that Alistair was carrying…

_"Anna?!"_


	40. The Queen in Arms

**40- The Queen in Arms**

The shocked Elsa moved aside for Alistair to get inside her personal room, the General was followed by two palace guards and a doctor, the strange chemical smell soon filled the entire place and Anna was taken to rest on the wide and blue bed.

It seemed that Anna was fighting to stay awake, she was clearly desperate to get some sleep after her incredible journey and she remained unable to believe that she was back home, but there was something that she had to do before letting herself fall asleep:

"Elsa, we have to rescue Kristoff and the others" Anna said, looking at her sister while she sat on the bed beside her- "Please, they are in great danger!"

"Anna, what the hell happened?!"

Alistair removed Anna's green cloak, confused and alarmed at the pungent smell that still emanated from every part of her military outfit. The doctor proceeded to evaluate Anna's vital signs and take a look at her eyes, perplexed at her condition, and Elsa was covering her mouth with her hands.

"They released poison gas with the wind, few of us escaped, we lost two thousand men and the Sammel Line has been crossed…"

_"What?!"_ Alistair cried out, totally enraged- "They are going to pay for that!"

Anna's words had sent a shockwave of disbelief and fury right into the heart of her sister, these were the worst possible news that Elsa could have imagined and she remained in awestruck silence for a few seconds, just trying to accept what had happened at the Front…

The Queen knew there was a possibility that the Southern Isles would have a secret weapon of their own, but despite the rumors about chemical weapons being developed and tested by a few Kingdoms, she had never expected that poison gas would be used in this war.

Elsa had heard really frightening things about this new style of warfare, and her hatred for Hans multiplied a hundred times as she witnessed Anna gasping for air and fearing for her life...

"Where did you leave Kristoff and the others?" Elsa asked, making an effort to act as casually as possible in the presence of Alistair and the others- "Anna, do you know how many enemy forces are advancing?"

"We set up a campsite at Snowhall Forest" Anna said with her shattered voice, suddenly fighting to draw breath- "Please, send some Cavalry to rescue them!"

"What part of Snowhall forest?"

Anna went into a fit of gasping and coughing so severe that the doctor was taken aback, Alistair was shaking in rage and the Guards stood in silence, but Elsa remained calm and she held her sister's hand until the breathing crisis had passed…

"Not far from the lake where we used to go skating, close to the waterfall…"

Alistair was just about to offer himself as commander of a military rescue mission, but then Elsa turned her head to look at the Guards and spoke to them with an incredibly cold and emotionless voice:

"It's time for Arendelle's Guard to join the war effort! I want seven mounted squadrons departing for Snowhall Forest, find those survivors and bring them home as soon as you can… _Now!"_

The surprised Guards bowed at the Queen, and then they departed immediately to call the others and prepare the rescue mission.

"Anna, you are going to recover, alright? You have to fight! _Do not give up!"_ Elsa exclaimed, her hand coming into contact with the cold face of her sister- "Carl, what type of poisoning is this? What happened to my sister?"

"I would say that her respiratory system has suffered burns, your Majesty" the doctor replied, clearly alarmed at Anna's condition- "I have… we have never seen this before, but we'll try any treatment within our knowledge!"

"Please, save my sister no matter what you have to do… Alistair, follow me!"

"Elsa" Anna called, raising a hand towards her sister- "You cannot command the counterattack! Please, just send the Generals! Stay with me!"

"I am the Queen of Arendelle, Anna!"

"You have no idea what you are getting into, war is nothing like we imagined it would be…"

Anna's desperate words caused shivers to Elsa, because she knew that her sister had done and seen things that most people would not even imagine… Anna just feared for her safety, but after all she was the Queen and it was time for her to take the arms and fight.

Elsa took a green cloak and her military uniform from her wardrobe, she grabbed her crown and the royal sword and then, cold and proud, she departed from that room without speaking another word to Anna.

"Elsa, don't go to that hell…"

Two more doctors and a team of nurses arrived to look after her, the door was closed and then Anna, thinking of Elsa and Kristoff, closed her eyes at last and fell into a dangerous sleep…


	41. Waiting for Kristoff

**41- Waiting for Kristoff**

The days that followed were a combination of joy and angst for Anna, for she was happy of finding herself back home and, at the same time, sad and worried about Kristoff and the other survivors that she had left behind at Snowhall.

Anna was sent to rest at her personal bedroom the day after she arrived at the Palace, and even though the medical staff did not really know a way to treat the chemical burns inside of her, the supportive care was valuable and the fits of coughing soon became less severe and less frequent as well…

Elsa would visit her sister every day to ask for updates about her condition, Anna was relieved to see that she had not departed with the reserve divisions yet and the doctors, full of enthusiasm, soon informed the Queen that most likely Anna had never been exposed to a lethal concentration of the poison gas.

The young Princess had suffered a considerable degree of respiratory damage anyway, but her lungs would recover with time and perhaps she would be capable of enjoying a normal life once again.

Anna finally informed the War Council that most of the Southern Isles forces had abandoned the war and returned home, which had left Hans with something between four and six thousand men and no horses at all…

These were excellent news for the Queen and everyone else, a great relief indeed considering that, up to that point, they had been expecting to engage a much larger and more threatening force that would be advancing by horse somewhere between Snowhall and the Town.

Elsa decided that they could take some time to organize a final and decisive offensive, the reserve divisions were called to action and meanwhile everyone awaited patiently for the return of the squadrons of the Arendelle Guard…

The weather started to get colder again, the days were passing without news of the rescue mission and one day Anna was awakened by a Guard knocking her door with considerable strength.

"Who is that?" Anna asked, her harsh voice coming from under those purple and blue blankets- "Please, let me sleep a little longer…"

"Your Highness!" the Guard said, standing at the other side of the door- "I have great news for you… The squadrons have returned!"

"What?! _Excellent!"_

The Princess of Arendelle was quite recovered after spending two weeks at the Palace, enjoying all of the comforts that she had nearly forgotten during her time at the Front. It was true that her bad leg still caused some trouble, her voice had not recovered and the nightmares continued, but she was alive and loads of light had returned to her eyes.

Anna was happy of waking up every day, and that morning, wearing her favorite purple cloak, she dashed downstairs as fast as she could…

"Hi Elsa, where is everyone?" Anna asked, having found her sister at the middle of a hallway- "Where is Kristoff?"

"They just informed me too, come on!"

Anna and Elsa reached the entrance gates and dashed outside together, discovering that it was a snowy day and the Square was full of Arendelle Guards, curious townspeople and the battered but happy-looking survivors of the chemical attack…

_"Kristoff!"_

Elsa beamed as she witnessed how Anna dashed to greet her boyfriend, he limped towards her and then they hugged beside one of the frozen fountains…

"Hello, Anna" Kristoff said, looking down into her eyes- "It feels really weird to be back!"

"I have thought about you all day, every day" Anna replied, so happy and relieved to see Kristoff once again- "What happened?"

Anna had realized that the spears, halberds and swords of the Guards were covered by blood, many of them were injured and it looked like Kristoff had been shot in a leg. A few of the Guards had arrived in a severe condition, and all of them were shivering in the harsh and cold wind…

"Yeah, they found us a week ago and everything seemed perfect, but we came under enemy fire a few hours after that" Kristoff explained, noticing that Anna was worried about his leg- "It does not hurt that much, Anna… Anyway, the group that attacked us was small, and the Arendelle Guards fought really well!"

"They found you just in time!"

Elsa herself greeted General Matthew not far from Kristoff and Anna, Alistair was congratulating the Guards and very soon everyone entered the Palace so the medical staff could look after those that had been injured.

"You look much better now, Anna…"

Anna supported Kristoff as they crossed the gates together, and even though the temperature was plummeting to dangerous levels of cold once again, everyone could feel that brighter times were just ahead.

The snowy wind transformed into a storm, since the Queen's Magic was back at work and a great strategy for the final offensive was already forming in her mind...


	42. Elsa's Strategy

**42- Elsa's Strategy**

The War Council of Arendelle gathered once again at the famous, small and secret room where few people were allowed to enter, it was already the thirteenth gathering of the war and everyone, getting tired of this, really wished that it would be the last.

Elsa called Anna, Kristoff and Alice to be part of this gathering, Alistair and Matthew were summoned as well and the Queen herself was the first to speak as soon as the heavy wooden doors were closed and locked that night...

"Arendelle has played a defensive role in this war, just halting the enemy forces and causing them as much damage as possible" the Queen said, spreading a map of the Kingdom on a large wooden table- "We are winning, our defenses have worked… but now things have changed, and it's time for us to take the offensive!"

Elsa pointed her finger at the map of Arendelle, indicating to the others the path that the enemy forces were most likely to be following at those very moments:

The trails that crossed the Forest of Snowhall would have taken the Southern Isles forces to a place called Raven Valley, after which Hans would be forced to lead his army through a snowy field before reaching the point that would be crucial for Arendelle's new strategy of war…

"The Forest of Vardeen" Elsa added, everyone paying great attention to everything she would say- "I believe that our enemies will try to seek shelter there before advancing anymore, haunted by my snowstorm… However, once again our knowledge of the terrain will prove disastrous for them!"

"What do you have in mind, your Majesty?" Matthew asked.

The War Council room was illuminated only by a few candles, dark blue curtains were covering the windows and a huge portrait of King Agdar remained hanging from the wall, painted wearing his crown and holding the royal sword in his hand…

It was the very same sword which now hanged from Elsa's waist, and the Queen looked magnificent wearing the purple military uniform and her elegant green cloak.

"We'll wait for them at the highest lands of Vardeen, placing our forces at the hills of Northern Wind and Violet Star" Elsa explained, pointing at those places in the map- "We are taking seven divisions, twelve thousand men…"

Alistair and Matthew nodded their approval, ready to once again command their forces into battle, and then Anna decided to give her opinion at last:

"Elsa, what if they are waiting for us?" Anna asked, a little worried about her sister's offensive strategy- "What if they have more Green Death?"

"Anna, our Royal Chemist has identified Green Death as elemental Chlorine" Elsa explained, looking right into the eyes of her sister- "It becomes a liquid in a temperature as cold as we are having now, please do not worry about it…"

"They could be waiting for us, anyway…" Alice said.

Alice Snowflake looked impressive wearing the military uniform once again, displaying high spirits and quite recovered from the shell shock disease even though her hands remained a little restless.

She was ready to fight again, ready to claim vengeance for Arendelle and also for herself...

"Alice, they may be waiting for us to attack" Elsa accepted- "My point is, that our soldiers are not going to be the first to charge into battle… I have appointed some _special reinforcements_ of my own, and trust me… Hans is not expecting them at all!"

Anna and Alice looked equally curious to know what would be the Queen's special reinforcements, but they did not ask about it and Elsa continued to speak:

"So, my shock troops hit first… I expect Hans and his men to be quite terrified at this point, and after that, we descend from the hills like we did at Tannya and crush our enemy with a pincers attack!"

Alistair and Matthew showed signs of excitement at the strategy, both of them eager to witness the end of this war once and for all…

"Excellent strategy, your Majesty!" Alistair said, clasping his hands- "This looks like the end of the war, but please tell us… what are your _special reinforcements_ precisely?"

"That is a surprise, Alistair!"

"What is my part in this?" Anna asked, knowing that her sister had taken command of the military and she would no longer be the highest commander- "What can I do, Elsa?"

"Anna, the Arendelle Guards have expressed their desire to join the battle this time… and you are commanding them."

"Excellent!"

"Ladies, Gentlemen" Elsa continued, raising proudly to her full height- "History shall remember all of this as the Battle of Vardeen... _the end of the Arendelle War!"_

All of them clapped and cheered with great enthusiasm, the snowstorm was howling like a monster outside and the War Council continued for some time after that, just so the Queen and her Generals could agree on every little detail about the strategy.

The Forest of Vardeen would witness the last battle of the war, and the Southern Isles forces had no idea that they were just about to fall into a terrible trap...


	43. Into the Snowstorm

**43- Into the Snowstorm**

The wind was descending from the nearby mountains in the form of wild and terrible bursts, the snow was everywhere and that day, wearing heavy coats as protection from the cold, the reserve divisions of Arendelle's Army began marching on their long travel to the South.

Queen Elsa led the troops as they abandoned the Town cheered by thousands of people, the morale was very high and everyone hoped that Vardeen would be indeed the last battle of the war...

All of Arendelle was having trouble to believe that it was Summer, for the sky was white and gray and the reservist soldiers, many of them barely older than twenty, were finding it difficult to carry their sabers, bayonets and muskets with their heavily gloved hands.

The purple cloaks would ripple in the wind as the young soldiers advanced through knee-deep snow as best as they could, but despite this and the harsh weather, very soon the seven divisions entered the forest and followed the trails that would lead them to the first campsites of the journey.

It was quite a sight for the townspeople to witness all of the Arendelle Guards as they abandoned the Palace and followed the troops, many of them wearing purple cloaks and mounting splendid white horses…

Elsa, Anna and their favorite Generals rode at the command of the first divisions that departed, but they came to a halt before entering the forest and began to wait for the Queen's special reinforcements to show up.

"Elsa, where are your mysterious shock troops?" Anna asked, shivering as she looked all around them- "I cannot wait to see them, whatever that they are!"

The Princess looked proud and cold wearing a Guard uniform in silver and blue, her purple cloak was already covered by frost, she carried a latest generation musket and a dazzling sword was hanging from her waist.

"Just wait, Anna!" Elsa replied, looking at her sister with a smile- "They'll be here any moment…"

Alistair, Matthew and Alice seemed to be really curious as well, but the minutes were passing, the storm was getting colder and the five of them just remained there, mounting on their horses and awaiting for the special reinforcements that Elsa had been talking about for several days.

"Your Majesty" Alistair said- "What if they do not show up?"

"Come on!" Elsa complained, her military green cloak rippling in the snowy wind- "Would you have some patience, please?"

It took a few more minutes after that, but eventually the snowy ground began to shake lightly and Anna, looking with more detail into the blizzard, realized that something really large and heavy was advancing towards them…

_"What the hell?!"_

The horses became alarmed and agitated as Marshmallow the Snow Monster emerged from between the snowy wind, Anna was freaking out, Elsa laughed and then everyone realized that the Guard of Elsa's Ice Castle was not alone at all:

Twenty other Snow Monsters came following Marshmallow, a minute later fifty more showed up, a hundred of them followed and very soon drove after drove of Elsa's magical creatures marched past the Queen and entered the forest to follow the rest of the army…

"So, what do you think?" Elsa asked, laughing at the faces of terror and confusion displayed by Anna, Matthew, Alistair and Alice.

"I cannot believe it!" Alice cried out, fighting to control her spooked white horse- "How many of those things do we have?"

"Three hundred plus the original one…"

"Elsa, when did you make so many of those monsters?!" Anna asked, quite shaken even after the last monster had passed- "I never imagined that you could have an entire army of them!"

"Anna, do you remember I went up to my Ice Palace while you were at the Sammel Offensive?" Elsa explained- "My original idea was to send Marshmallow and all the others to the Front, but I was afraid that the artillery would destroy them… Anyway, now is the perfect moment for them to attack!"

"Yeah, Hans is definitely not expecting _that!"_

Anna and Elsa turned their heads to look at Arendelle Town for a last time, the purple and green flags rippled at the highest towers and after that, drawing out their swords, the five of them rode into the forest to command the army towards the last battle of the war...


	44. All has been for Nothing

**44- All has been for Nothing**

Hans and what remained of the Southern Isles Army had fought against snow, wind, wild animals and severe cold all the way from the Sammel Line, crossing the treacherous Snowhall, exploring the mysterious Raven Valley and braving dangerous ice fields as best as they could.

They had finally arrived at a different forest full of icicles and wolves, which according to their maps, was not too far from Arendelle Town… the men were weakened from a prolonged scarcity of food, they feared to encounter the Arendelle Guard again and the weather had become so cold that everyone had started to curse and shiver violently.

The frozen wood that they encountered was impossible to ignite in order to make campfires, every possible source of food was lost and things were not really looking good for the invaders…

"Your Majesty, we cannot fix them… there is just no way without the necessary equipment!" a soldier said, sitting on the snow and looking up at the King- "There is corrosion inside, we would need to change many parts..."

"Then, find a way! We need to use these Crackers against them!"

It so happened that Hans had ordered hundreds of his men to transport dozens of stolen Cracker guns all the way from the Line, and now he had dispatched special teams of gunners that were supposed to somehow fix the damaged weapons.

The experts had tried everything already, the Crackers would just not fire anymore and the King was not accepting a negative answer…

"We are sorry…"

Hans finally lost patience, he growled and then he kicked the nearby Cracker with great strength, causing it to lose balance and fall on the snow. Carrying the heavy guns together with loads of ammunition had taken a considerable effort, and now they were forced to accept that they could not use these Arendellian weapons after all.

_"Damn it, we have carried this heavy trash for nothing!"_

The forest all around them was all icy and white, the blueish light of daybreak was slowly turning white and it seemed to everyone that this day would be even colder than all the days before, with an even stronger wind coming from the North…

The red-cloaked soldiers were gathering in small groups here and there between the frosty trees, they were desperate to have at least some fire and by this point even the most blood-thirsty thugs among the invaders, shivering in cold, realized that the rest of the Army had done the right thing by forsaking the campaign.

They should have returned to the coast when they had the chance to do it, and everyone knew that by now their friends would have already arrived back home...

Hans was sure that Elsa was determined to freeze them all to death, but after five weeks of journey they were already so close to Arendelle Town and there was no turning back.

"Your Majesty!"

Hans turned around to discover three young soldiers dashing towards him, and for some reason all of them were smiling despite the terrible situation of the Army. They came to a halt just a few paces from the King, all of them gasping and coughing because of the terribly cold air.

"What is it?"

"We have managed to start a small campfire" one of the soldiers explained, trying to catch some breath- "It works, and we are unfreezing more wood! The others have been hunting foxes and birds, please come with us."

"Excellent! A decent breakfast finally…"

Hans followed the soldiers, soon smelling the smoke and discovering the comforting flames of a campfire in the distance… many soldiers were gathering around it seeking the safety of some heat, and the screams of delight soon began to spread from one side of the campsite to the other:

"We have a campfire! _We have a campfire!"_

It seemed that things were looking better for Hans and his men, but then, all of a sudden, everyone heard the distant growls of some huge creature and the snowy ground began to shake…

"What is that?" Hans asked, turning around with surprise.

The celebrations ended as swiftly as they had started, the joyful cheers everywhere replaced immediately by screams of terror and utter disbelief:

_"There are monsters coming!"_


	45. The Battle of Vardeen

**45- The Battle of Vardeen**

The vicious growls of the snow monsters grew louder as they advanced between the trees, all of them stomping the ground and throwing jagged rocks as the surprised soldiers grabbed their muskets and sabers ready to fight.

It was a terrible view to see the camping tents ravaged by the creatures, some of the soldiers were kicked away or even crushed as the shock troops advanced and the flying rocks killed many men, but the enemy retreated and very soon all of them had recovered from the initial surprise…

"We have to surround them!" Hans ordered by screams, drawing out his sword as he charged followed by his Generals- "Slash their legs, _that's their weakest point!"_

Some of the soldiers distracted the snow monsters by shooting at their arms and heads, others had resorted to throwing grenades and soon the peaceful silence of the forest had transformed into a combination of explosions, growls and screams…

The monsters managed to crush, punch and kick even more soldiers, but the grenades started to cause severe damage and then they were outnumbered and surrounded.

Every monster came to fight twenty soldiers, the men would keep shooting and at the same time others tried to deliver saber slashes at the legs of the creatures, some of them losing their lives in the process.

Hans was the first to slice off the leg of a snow monster, the great creature collapsed and that was followed by another, and yet another… the heads of some monsters were blown apart by direct grenade explosions, minutes were passing and it seemed that the Southern Isles forces would be capable of repelling the attack.

_"Keep fighting, keep fighting!"_

Some time later it looked like the battle was won, the grenades proved devastating and after that, just as hundreds of soldiers abandoned the fight to look after their injured comrades, they discovered a new and very different sound:

It sounded like hundreds of horses were running down from the nearby hills at both sides of the forest, the ground was shaken once again, the red cloaked soldiers began to get hit by musket fire and soon the battle cries were everywhere as thousands of Arendellian soldiers charged to attack…

"What the hell is this?!" Hans screamed, witnessing in terror as the first Cavalry squadrons entered the fray- _"Anna!"_

Anna of Arendelle showed up riding proudly with a sword in her hand, delivering lethal slashes left and right as she stormed her way through enemy lines… the brave Guards that followed her charged like a storm as they attacked with their halberds and swords, but this was not the worst of all.

Queen Elsa herself rode between the fighters, shooting sharp icicles from her hands and freezing men to death with awful blasts of her Ice Magic…

_"For Arendelle!"_ Elsa screamed, raising her sword high above her head- "Let's end this war once and for all!"

The red cloaks were even more afraid of the Queen than they had been of her snow monsters, awestruck as they witnessed her legendary powers with their own eyes… meanwhile the Arendellian guards and soldiers were already overwhelming the worn out forces of the Southern Isles, but the battle would not be over so fast.

Many of the riders and soldiers were brought down by the deadly grenades and musket fire, the surviving red cloaks charged with their bayonets and the armies clashed between the bloodstained trees like it had happened at the Sammel Offensive…

Queen Elsa froze a grenade that had been tossed right at her, she replied with even more icicles that pierced the chests of many men and her blasts of magic continued to wreak havoc, dozens of enemy soldiers frozen to death right where they were standing.

"Where are you, Hans?" Anna cried out in the middle of the battle, her blade now completely covered by blood- _"Where are you?!"_

The Arendelle Guards continued to display their sword and halberd skills with devastating effect, more than thirty snow monsters remained fighting and then Anna finally discovered the person that she was desperate to find:

Hans remained fighting between the bloodied snow and fallen men, and then Anna charged straight towards him with the sword in her hand and nothing but cold and vicious fury flowing through her veins…


	46. Never Again

**46- Never Again**

Anna knew that her enemies would try to stop her as soon as they realized what she was trying to do, she was ready to face anything and her caution soon proved to be wise and lifesaving as she charged towards the King.

The Princess surprised one of the few surviving Generals with a fierce attack from behind, she slashed three soldiers, her horse ran over two others that tried to stand in her way and several times she heard the characteristic sound of bullets as they passed…

Anna realized that most of the enemy forces were too distracted by the fighting to even realize that the life of their leader was in great danger, she easily overcame those that did notice this and then Hans, hearing the powerful horse coming, turned his head to the left and became paralyzed at what he discovered.

The image of Anna coming with a bloodied sword in her hand was too much for the battered Hans, who became frozen on the spot for a few seconds as they looked into each other's eyes from a distance…

Anna's blue eyes showed nothing but cold and murderous intentions, and Hans was sure that he had no choice but to get the hell out of there if he wanted to remain alive.

An Arendellian rider nearby was brought down by a musket shot to the chest, the man fell to the snowy ground and Hans, grasping the opportunity, quickly climbed on the abandoned horse and charged away trying to escape…

"Retreat!" Hans cried out, looking around at the few forces that remained fighting for him- _"Everyone, retreat back to the ice fields!"_

The Southern Isles forces were taking catastrophic damage at this point, the red cloaked soldiers were falling everywhere and at that moment, witnessing how the King himself was forsaking the battle for dear life, hundreds of men dropped their weapons and turned around to escape.

Elsa immediately ordered her soldiers and guards to chase and kill as many enemies as they could, and so the purple cloaks advanced with bayonets and sabers tearing down and crushing the terrified men that were simply trying to survive…

The Arendellian cruelty was powered by the terrible suffering that they had endured at the hands of these invaders, now they had attained a glorious victory at last and they would not hesitate to vanquish even the last one of their mortal enemies, everyone hoping that a war like this would never happen again.

Hans did not care to even take a look at all of this, the stolen horse was very fast, Anna was left far behind and it seemed that the King of the Southern Isles would escape from the terrible fate of his soldiers…

"Alice!" Anna called, her hand pointing at Hans- _"Now, bring him down!"_

Alice came riding very fast not far from Anna, they looked into each other's eyes for an instant and then she raised her musket and pointed carefully at Hans… the powerful detonation sent a bullet straight into the right shoulder of the King, and then Hans, losing balance and control, fell from the horse and crashed on the red snow below.

The Arendellian forces cheered and celebrated, not a single enemy soldier managed to escape from their wrath and Anna advanced followed by Alistair and Elsa, but the royals were not the first to reach the fallen Hans after all…

Kristoff dismounted from his horse and quickly grabbed the King by the throat, beaming as his other hand closed to form a powerful fist.

"Greetings" Kristoff grunted, happy to see that this awaited moment had arrived at last- "Welcome to Arendelle, bastard!"

Hans gasped and cried as a vicious punch came and shattered his nose, and after that Kristoff, far more furious than he had ever been, continued to deliver a blow after another even after the ill-fated King had lost loads of blood and most of his visible teeth.

Elsa, Alistair, Alice, Anna and many others arrived to witness the tragic scene, Hans whispered something that sounded like _no more please_ and finally a soft hand landed on the right shoulder of Kristoff, followed a few seconds later by a harsh-sounding voice:

"Thank you, Kristoff" Anna said, as cold as the snow and ice all around them- "That shall be enough..."

Kristoff slowly released Hans to leave him gasping and crying on the snow, Elsa laughed coldly and Anna, beaming, began to walk in circles around her enemy just like a predator awaiting the moment to finish off its prey…

"It all ends here, Hans" Anna said, enjoying every moment of it- "You are responsible for the worst war that the Northern world has ever seen, countless lives have been destroyed and now you shall pay with your own…"

"P-please" Hans gasped, unable to stand up- "Let m-me go…"

"We had the chance to destroy you that day" Elsa said, drawing closer to both of them- "We let you go instead, and look what happened! _Never again…"_

Elsa handed over the royal sword of Arendelle to Anna, the same sword that had belonged to their father, and to their grandfather before him… Anna took the blade with great pride in her hands, and Hans, knowing that death was coming, tried a last attempt to save his life:

_"Anna, please…"_

"I have nothing else to say to you…"

Anna raised the sword very high, she turned it upside down so the blade would point downwards, everyone witnessed in silence and then she delivered a lethal stab right into the heart of the King.

Hans gasped in terror and despair, the light abandoned his green eyes as he looked at the sky and then he was gone…

A freezing silence continued for a long time even after Anna had removed the bloodstained sword, for it took a few minutes for everyone gathered at that forest to finally understand what had taken place before their eyes.

The Arendelle War had ended at last...


	47. A Fallen Friend

**47- A Fallen Friend**

Anna lowered the sword, she looked up at the gray and snowy sky and then she broke down in tears, shaken and overwhelmed by joy and relief at the sudden realization that the war was over, that everything had passed…

All of the cavalry charges, all the shooting, all the awful shells and explosions would be silenced from now on… there would be no more sabers and no more grenades, now everything had come to an end and there would be no more death.

Queen Elsa drew closer to her sister with tears in her eyes, Anna turned her head to look at her, Kristoff, Alistair and Alice witnessed in silence and then both sisters hugged crying and sobbing for a long time after that…

"Anna" Elsa whispered, patting her sister on the back as they hugged- "Anna, it's over, there shall be no more war…"

"Elsa, I love you" Anna said, unable to control the flow of powerful emotions- "When I was… down there… so many times I thought that I would never see you again!"

The small group of people around the Queen and her sister began to disperse some time later, all of them ready to join the efforts to finish off the agonized enemies that remained alive here and there, find their own injured men and provide to them whatever medical attention that they could.

Alice and Kristoff drew out their swords and started to stab the few enemy soldiers that they discovered between the bloodstained snow, others were attending the injured Arendellians and then Alistair cried out all of a sudden...

_"Matthew!"_

The aging, once cheerful and grey-haired General laid on the snow beside his ravaged horse, right where both of them had collapsed after the explosion of a powerful grenade. Matthew was gasping and fighting to draw breath, and there was an alarming amount of blood coming from the shrapnel injuries inflicted to many parts of his body.

"Alistair?"

Matthew was looking at the sky at those moments, but he turned his head to look at his friends as Alistair, Alice and Anna dashed towards him and finally arrived at his side…

"Look at me, do not let go!" Alistair said, grasping Matthew's left hand with great strength- "The medical staff shall arrive any moment, and then we are taking you back to the Palace!"

"What happened?" Matthew asked, his soft green eyes gleaming slightly at the sight of Anna and Queen Elsa- "Is it over?"

"Yes, our victory is complete!" Alistair said- "Matthew, hold on…"

Alistair and his daughter tried their best to comfort the fallen General, but Anna had witnessed the last moments of a person too many times and she realized, heartbroken, that Matthew would not survive for much longer.

Their friend was already beyond the help of any doctor, and now all that they could do was to stay beside him until the final moment would come at last…

"Good" Matthew replied, looking at the sky once again- "I can depart in peace now, please let me go…"

Elsa kneeled on the snow, and Anna, standing up in silence, witnessed with teary eyes as her sister touched Matthew's face with great kindness and looked deeply into those cold and accepting green eyes.

"We can save you…" Elsa said, her voice breaking apart.

"I have fallen in battle fighting for my Queen" Matthew replied with great pride, looking at Elsa for a moment- "There is no greater honor…"

"Farewell, and thank you for everything…" Anna said, and they all remained in silence until Matthew stopped breathing and all light abandoned his eyes.

Alistair comforted his daughter as she cried, at those moments the first medical squadrons showed up at the ravaged forest and Queen Elsa, wishing to pay a special tribute to her fallen General, took off her own green cloak and covered Matthew with it.

Anna took a last look at the terrible scene of death and devastation all around her, she sighed, the tears were flowing nonstop from her eyes as she smelled the stench of blood in the air and after that, without saying a word to the others, she climbed on her horse and rode away from Vardeen as fast as she could.

"Anna" Elsa whispered as she stood up, staring at her sister until she disappeared very far between the trees- "What are we going to do?"

The war was over, the enemy had been annihilated and Arendelle was safe, but Elsa knew that her sister had been changed by everything that she had seen and done and the Anna that she had known would never come back…


	48. Consequences

**48- Consequences**

The Army of Arendelle returned to the Town precisely two days after the Battle of Vardeen, Queen Elsa led the troops as they entered the streets and they were received by the people with wild cries and chants of celebration everywhere.

It was a fantastic day for everyone, the families were being reunited once again, great parties were being organized and the bells would ring with great power to announce the victory and the end of the war, but the mysterious absence of Anna continued and shadowed the celebrations for the Queen…

Elsa, Alice and Kristoff tried and explored every room and hallway of the Palace searching for Anna, but she was nowhere to be found and nobody at the Town had seen her since the day when the Army had departed for Vardeen.

The celebrations continued for several days, the people were ecstatic and Elsa honored the fallen troops in a special ceremony, but very soon the first official reports came about the casualties of the war and the people of Arendelle, shocked at first, tried to come to terms with the full cost and horror of what had happened:

According to the most conservative calculations, well over eight thousand Arendellian soldiers had been killed in combat at the combined war scenarios of Tannya, the Sammel offensive, the chemical attack and the fierce fighting at Vardeen.

Ten thousand more soldiers were injured, many of them missing a leg or an arm, and three hundred cases of shell shock were still trying to recover from the terrible illness...

Thirty seven thousand soldiers of the Southern Isles laid dead on Arendellian ground, which left the small Kingdom with a total of more than forty five thousand cadavers that were to be collected and buried accordingly during the following months.

It would take several years for Arendelle's resources and economy to recover from the consequences of the horrific war, but that was alright, they could deal with it… their dead would be honored and the Kingdom would recover, but the psychological damage that they had taken would be a completely different story.

The guards and servants of the Palace became alarmed at the worried and sickly looks of Queen Elsa, she would stay awake through many nights waiting for her sister and the days were passing without news of Princess Anna…

Wherever that Anna had gone to remained a total mystery, and the search missions that Elsa sent repeatedly would never find any trace or clues about the lost Princess.

It was a night of early November when Elsa woke up shivering in cold, quite shaken after suffering through yet another nightmare about her sister… the Queen realized that she had kicked her blankets away while she was fighting within the nightmare, and the flames of her fireplace had vanished a long time ago.

"Calm down, Elsa" the Queen whispered to herself, breathing very fast and sitting up on her bed- "Calm down, it was not real! Anna is alright, she's going to come back one day and everything will be perfect…"

Elsa looked all around at her dark bedroom for some time, she managed to brush away the images from her nightmare and then, some minutes later, she decided that trying to fall asleep again was pointless and that she could find something better to do.

The Queen placed one of her favorite blue coats around her shoulders, for the Palace was really cold now that the natural Winter was drawing closer…

"Where are you, Anna? I wish you would come back home, where you belong…"

Elsa abandoned her bedroom carrying a candle in her hand, happy to discover that all of the servants and even most of the guards had gone to sleep already… the few guards that remained patrolling the hallways would never ask questions to her, especially since her nightmares had started two weeks ago.

Which would be the best place to go, if you were alone within a huge palace in the middle of a freezing night?

Elsa would visit sometimes one of her favorite kitchens to prepare bread and cookies by herself, a fun and simple activity that would always ease her stress… however, that night she took a different path through the hallways and soon arrived before a great wooden door that she was very familiar with.

It was usually locked, so Elsa was quite surprised that the door was open that night…

The Queen walked into the Palace Library to discover that somebody was already there, and it was a young and disheveled woman sitting on the carpet and reading an old book beside the fireplace…

"Hello, Elsa…"

Elsa became frozen on the spot at the sight of Anna, who seemed to have arrived back home in the middle of the night intentionally so nobody would see her. The Princess was just there, reading a book like nothing special had happened, and they looked into each other's eyes for a long time before the Queen could react at all.

Anna looked cold, weakened and sad, like she was ill or something, and also she had clearly lost many pounds from the lack of a proper diet all that time. She remained wearing the same guard uniform and cloak from Vardeen, bloodstained and everything, and the royal sword laid on the purple carpet beside her.

The Queen fought hard to remain calm, to avoid crashing down in tears of joy at the mere sight of her sister… Anna's eyes returned to the pages of her book, and then Elsa simply advanced and sat right in front of the Princess.

"Do you remember this book?" Anna asked, her voice just as burned and harsh as it had been since the chemical attack- "Mother used to read these Troll stories to me every time that I could not sleep…"

"Anna, where have you been?"

Anna became lost into the stories she was reading, she seemed to be enjoying some of her oldest childhood memories and quite a long time passed before she would speak and look at her sister once again:

"Here and there" Anna said casually, giving no importance to the matter- "Elsa, I am sorry for having abandoned you like that… I needed… I just... I could not take it anymore! To be surrounded by death, I mean…"

Elsa realized that there was something strange in the blue eyes of her sister, not just sadness and despair but also grief and acceptance of everything that had happened… her eyes were just not the same anymore, but still there were light and sparks coming from the old Anna lost somewhere within all the darkness.

"I know, Anna" Elsa replied, displaying a soft smile- "To be honest, after having my own experience of battle at Vardeen I have no idea how you managed to resist everything before that… You are much stronger than I could ever be, and it's thanks to you that we survived and won the war."

"I can see that you have not been sleeping well…"

"I have had my share of nightmares" Elsa said, turning her head to look at the merry flames of the fireplace- "But now that you have returned, things shall start to be much brighter around here!"

"I love you, Elsa…"

All of a sudden, Elsa felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders by a magical and incredible force… her sister had returned, they were together, life was perfect and from now on nothing would separate them ever again.

Anna smiled at her with a hint of her old personality shining through the darkness, and after that Elsa, fearing the nightmares no more, cuddled on the purple carpet beside her sister and closed her sleepy eyes.

"Sleep well, sister!"

Anna caressed Elsa's blond hair with sisterly love, the fireplace sparked and whispered beside them and the Queen easily fell into a happy and peaceful sleep…


	49. Twelve Months Later

**49- Twelve Months Later**

Just like Queen Elsa had feared every day, Anna never recovered from the severe psychological effects that the war inflicted on her.

The Princess of Arendelle continued to suffer nightmares, flashbacks, memory trouble and even anxiety attacks as the months passed, sometimes she would disappear into the mountains just to be alone and her eyes remained in that cold, grieving state that her friends eventually accepted as normal in her.

It was usual for Anna to freeze in the middle of any conversation, suddenly transported to the Front by a powerful flashback, and the Guards became used to see her wandering all over the palace during those awful nights when she would be too scared to sleep…

Elsa would always try her best to comfort her, and sometimes there were a few days when the old Anna managed to shine, play and even laugh while they shopped at the Town or perhaps during a camping travel with Kristoff and the others.

The Summer of the following year was a particularly pleasant one, like nature was somehow trying to compensate for the snowy and frozen months of the year before, and that was when the Queen announced her plans to build a War Memorial cemetery to honor the fallen of the Arendelle War.

A beautiful valley in a forest of the mountains was chosen as location for the special cemetery, a great team of volunteers began to work, thousands of rocks were transported from the mountains to serve as gravestones and five months passed before everything was ready…

It was a cold day of late November when Anna visited the War Memorial for the first time in her life, there was some snow falling from the gray sky and her military green cloak, which she had decided to wear for the special occasion, was rippling thanks to the wild bursts of wind coming from the mountains.

"This is really beautiful, Elsa" Anna said, looking all around as they enjoyed a peaceful walk between the tombs- "The families are going to love it!"

The Queen was wearing her royal outfit that day, the same that she had displayed at the coronation ceremony more than four years ago, and she looked happy and relieved to see that Anna was particularly cheerful that day…

The royal sisters found themselves alone at the War Memorial, because the few military officers that had been allowed to visit so far had departed already and it would be officially opened to the families the following day.

It was not very frequently that Anna and Elsa could enjoy together a private and peaceful moment like that, and so they tried to walk slowly as they talked and admired the beauty of the gravestones, inscriptions, trees, bushes, flowers and silvery benches that could be found all over the Memorial.

"Oh look, this is General Matthew's tomb" Elsa said, coming to a halt in front of a particularly large and beautiful gravestone- "I approved the design myself, just wanted it to be perfect… Do you like it, Anna?"

Anna advanced a few steps, she placed her purple flowers on the tomb and after that she just remained there, frozen in silence as she stared at the tombstone with a cold and distant look in her eyes…

Elsa thought that maybe her sister wished to remain silent for some time as a personal tribute to their fallen friend, but Anna's silence continued for too long and she remained still and quiet like a statue made of ice.

"Anna?"

_"W-what?"_ Anna replied, quite surprised and turning around to look at her sister- "Oh, sorry for that, Elsa… I was back at the Sammel… for a moment."

"I see, just take it easy" Elsa said, placing her left hand on Anna's right shoulder- "Look, it's getting dark! We have to return to the Palace..."

"Fine… Elsa, can we build a snowman before dinner tonight?"

"Sure, why not?"

Anna and Elsa held hands, they took some time to abandon the War Memorial, the wind was getting stronger and finally they reached the horses that had been waiting for them at the edge of the forest.

They mounted, and when Elsa turned her head to look at her sister she was delighted to see once again the sparks of old Anna gleaming in those teary blue eyes…

"I'll race you to the Palace, Elsa!"

_"Wait!"_

Anna took a very good advantage before Elsa could react, their cloaks were rippling in the wind as they gained more and more speed and the sisters, recalling good times, laughed and played all the way back to Arendelle Town…


	50. Northern Lights

**50- Northern Lights**

Anna and Elsa ice skated together at the Fountain Square, soon the cold evening was transformed into night and the first snowfall of the season quickly transformed Arendelle Town into a beautiful wintry scene.

It was a fantastic experience for both sisters as they sat on the snow, they looked up at the Northern Lights as the wind whispered between the towers of the palace and after that, realizing that enough snow had gathered already, they played a snowballs fight and began to build a huge snowman together…

Elsa was careful not to infuse life into the snowman with her Magic, but it was great fun anyway and some time later, when the weather became really cold, they walked into the castle and ordered strawberry pie to have for dinner at the Library.

They read Anna's favorite stories by the light of the fireplace, and finally they said good night to each other and decided that it was time to have some sleep.

Anna was feeling really good as she closed her eyes, she fell asleep very fast and some time later she did not realize at all when the door of her bedroom was opened silently during the darkest and coldest part of that November night…

The huge room was illuminated by the Northern Lights as Elsa closed the door in complete silence and advanced slowly towards Anna, the soft flames of the fireplace remained crackling and sparking and then the Queen sat on the bed beside her sister.

"I love you, Anna" Elsa whispered, relieved to discover that her sister was enjoying a truly peaceful sleep- "I wish that all days would be just like today…"

The Queen looked at the sky through Anna's favorite window, she became fascinated at the unlimited beauty of the stars and the Northern Lights and then, all of a sudden, a soft and sweet melody suddenly came into existence in her mind.

It was a perfect moment, just there, with Anna sleeping far better than she had slept for a very long time… a collection of words formed in Elsa's mind followed by phrases and strophes, and then the Queen looked at her sister and began to sing for her:

_Sleep well, my sweet girl_  
><em>I am here to watch your dreams<em>  
><em>Please, never be afraid…<em>

_The Northern Lights shine just for you_

_Forget the war, she is very far_  
><em>Everything has passed, my dear...<em>  
><em>Please do not cry, she is not coming back<em>

_We are friends of the night, my sweet…_

_No need to run, or to hide in the dark_  
><em>Threatened by each distant blast…<em>

_Sleep my love, I shall never leave you alone_

_It's not your fault, it was just a dark fate…_

Anna seemed to be enjoying a happy dream as her sister sang for her in a low voice, the soft wind whispered outside and Queen Elsa, wishing that Anna would someday recover from the war, looked at the fascinating Northern Lights...


End file.
